Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
In the early 1920s Granitoid, the Bulgarian-German joint venture developed the
blueprints for building a series of hydropower stations along the Rilska River. The
first of those, Pastra Hydropower Station, was built in 1925; followed in 1929 by Rila
Hydropower station. Having completed those two, the company began developing
another set of blueprints, for building the so-called Rila Hydropower Group. The year
1939 saw the groundbreaking for Kamenitsa and Kalin hydropower stations, and of
Kalin Dam, which were completed and put on stream in 1948. The electrical power
generated by these stations was fed to the cement plant at the village of Batanovtsi,
Pernik District, to the Pirin mining complex operated by the same company, and the
Barakovo paper mill; the population of the Rilska River basin used the remaining part
for household purposes. The completion of this cascade of hydropower stations
changed the life of the local community by creating a host of new jobs during its
construction and subsequent operation, as well as by improving their living
conditions. The electricity generated has provided a powerful push for the industrial
development and economic output of southwestern Bulgaria.
At a later stage, a proposal was developed to utilize the discharged water of the
“Kamenitsa” hydropower stations for the supply of Rila town and the communities of
the Rila River basin with drinking water to the tune of 60 liters/sec. Another source of
drinking water for these communities is the Eleshnitsa River, via the Rila-
Kocherinovo pipeline (100 liters/sec.). At present, shortages of drinking water have
come to affect the population of Rila Municipality, since most of the local water is
piped into Sofia and other major cities in the region.
It is not only the population of the surrounding territories that benefits from waters
collected from the territory of the Nature Park; in fact, local drinking water is
distributed throughout the entire southwestern region of Bulgaria. Two arms of the
Belmeken-Sestrimo cascade of water catchment facilities are situated within the Park
territory. The cascade is built in such a way as to allow water to be diverted to either
Beli Iskar Dam, which supplies drinking water to the capital, or to Belmeken Dam,
where it is used for irrigation and power generation.
Several pumping stations operate along the Rilska River, which feed water for the
irrigation of farmlands along the lower stream of the river.
4.2.2 The Nature Park in the context of the South-western Planning Region
Planning mechanisms
The Regional Development Act (promulgated in State Gazette, # 26/23.03. 1999)
provides the legal basis as well as the tools pertinent to the investment policy in both
a regional and nation-wide context:
1. The National Plan for Economic Development during the Period 2000-2006.
(NDEP) 5 The Plan was developed in conformity with the National Strategy for
accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, last updated in the year 2001. Under it,
Rila Monastery Nature Park falls within the Southwestern Planning Region, which
5 Amendments to the Territorial Development Act that were submitted for parliamentary approval
towards April 2003, may lead to changes in the planning process.
Rila monastery Nature Park
ManaegmentPlan - Draft
2004 - 2013
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