Interview | Kyustendil will attract investors with the energy transition funding

Mr. Atanasov, the cherry-picking season in Kyustendil is approaching - how are the preparations going?

More than a mayor, I am above all a project manager and I manage things before they happen. In this case, we are trying to design the perfect cherry harvesting, so we meet in advance with the buyers, processors, producers, plant protection and other institutions that are engaged in this sector. We want to ensure that the cherry output will be, as always, of high quality.

We are also engaging in a wide-scale campaign with the wholesale buyers of cherries so that they can state their conditions - what sizes of cherries will be bought, when the picking will begin, how it is planned and above all – we want to make sure that we will not see Greek and Turkish trucks importing cherries on the territory of Kyustendil municipality, as we have seen in previous campaigns.

We’re also beginning to research the possibility of geographical denomination protection for the Kyustendil cherry. Everywhere in the farmers’ markets, you see labels saying Kyustendil cherries, but very often they come from Greece or other countries.

You have been at the helm of Kyustendil for more than half a year now - have you started fulfilling your election promises?

I think I started from day one - November 10, a landmark date in Bulgarian history (ed. – on November 10, 1989, the Bulgarian Communist regime began the changes towards democratization of the country). For example, we have awarded the public tender for the development of a land use plan of the municipal industrial zone of Kyustendil. It is extremely important for us to have an industrial zone in order to have land that we can offer to future investors. Every single investor wants to get a building permit within two months, to have electricity, water, gas, sewer connection, and optical internet at his enterprise, so that they can choose your city as a destination and build something there. I had a specific inquiry from a German investor who was looking for 30 acres of industrial land and to date we are still unable to offer him that.

We also hope to receive funding from the Just Transition Fund, under Integrated Territorial Investments or the Recovery Plan, so that we can get money to build the internal and external infrastructure of the industrial zone. Once the land use plan is ready, we will also have estimates of how much the grid network would cost.

We have already picked a suitable terrain for the industrial zone. It is located in the Maznevo hamlet, above the village of Zhilentsi, 5 km from Kyustendil and is a former military shooting range. Its road connection is located 200 m from the international road to Gyueshevo and following the ring road, the loading depot of the train station in Kyustendil, where corridor number 8 will also pass, is only 6 km away.

You said you had interest from a German investor. Are there other new investment inquiries in the city?

We are currently in talks with a representative of the German company in question so that they can rent a private property with a much smaller area where they can start production. The company is a manufacturer of thermal insulation materials. We are in talks with several other companies that are interested in entering the planned industrial zone if they receive funding from the Just Transition Fund. They can hire the very people who are expected to lose their jobs as a result of the not-so-fair transition.

Do you think the local businesses are ready for the energy transition? After our visits to several enterprises in the city, we found out that people are looking for work, and at the same time, there are worries that the workers at the thermal power plant will be left unemployed.

There are companies willing to make an entrance in Kyustendil municipality, and if we provide them with land, they will come, that is, they can take over part of this workforce. It is extremely important to me that the people who are employed receive adequate remuneration. About 10 years ago, when the "big crisis wave" hit Kyustendil with the closing of the mines, the Bulgarian state did not give any compensation. The miners tried to work in some of the Kyustendil enterprises, but when they saw the low wages offered to them, they left, because they were used to higher remuneration. If there are adequate salaries, there will be no problem with the labor force in Kyustendil.

In Kyustendil, I meet with all the companies, we even have a Public Council of Business at the city hall. We have a disagreement with it on one topic – local businesses do not want us to have an industrial zone. If foreign companies enter, wages will rise, but my interest is that citizens receive adequate remuneration. All the companies that complain about the lack of staff simply do not give adequate remuneration.

My idea, with the help of the Territorial Plan, is to turn a defect into an effect - because it can be said that the worst times have already passed us.

Why, in your opinion, is the transition in Kyustendil unfair and how do people feel about it?

It is not fair, because in Kyustendil the big crisis wave - a tsunami really - passed 7-8-10 years ago, unlike other regions. That big blow led to the start of depopulation of the entire region, people lost their jobs en masse, some went abroad, others stayed and struggled. This type of crisis that is still about to sweep over other regions happened here without funding aid. The difference is they can meet the trouble in a better position thanks to the grants.

Here comes the role of the state, which currently does not have a fair policy towards the satellite cities of Sofia. The capital is currently suffocating - there is a shortage of schools, kindergartens, and residential areas, new neighborhoods are being built, the infrastructure is languishing. And if the government would direct investors and finances to Pernik, Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad, their residents, when they have an adequate income, will stay in their hometowns and not leave. That is why the state must take measures.

How long, in your opinion, will the Bobov Dol thermal power plant operate?

I sincerely hope that it will work as long as possible, given that investments are being made in solar parks and gas facilities at the Bobov Dol TPP. The region has an extremely high interest in the continuing operation of the plant. According to the numbers in the Territorial Plans, when it closes, a total of about 1,000 people will lose their jobs - directly and indirectly.

My hope, as mayor of the municipality of Kyustendil, is to get adequate funding from the state to attract private companies that want to come and invest in our region, to get funding for the industrial park, with which we can attract them and as a result they can take over the unemployed workforce.

How important are public events, such as "Transition of Opportunities", organized by Brand Media Bulgaria to clarify the economic transition topic in our society?

They are extremely important, and I absolutely support them.

What has been planned in Kyustendil under the Concept of Integrated Territorial Investments and what will the funds from these be invested in?

The negotiations have already passed, and it is extremely important that we get funding. At the first stage, there will be funding for the project proposal for a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in our hospital, funding for the Regional Historical Museum "Acad. Yordan Ivanov", for the façade renovation of the "Dr. Petar Beron" Foreign Languages High School, the amusement park in the Hisarlaka area, among others.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov