Criminalizing Illegal Construction under Consideration, Says Interior Ministry's Acting Secretary General

Dimitrina Solakova, Marin Lekov

Interior Ministry's acting Secretary General Lyubomir Nikolov, Sofia, June 29, 2026 (BTA Photo/Vladimir Shokov)

Sofia,

29.06.2026 14:26

(BTA)

Criminalizing illegal construction is being considered, as the problem is very serious and has far-reaching consequences, Interior Ministry's acting Secretary General Lyubomir Nikolov told a news briefing on Monday. Nikolov commented on the Baba Alino case, in which authorities found 104 buildings allegedly constructed - or under construction - without permits, along with unauthorized roads, sewerage systems, and transformer facilities on some 10 hectares of forest land in Varna's Baba Alino area in May.

Nikolov explained that 1,170 tolerance certificates were issued by Varna's Primorski borough between 2019 and 2023. Officers from the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the Varna Regional Directorate of the Interior have focused on some 100 to 120 certificates, for which it is blatantly obvious that the buildings for which they were issued were constructed within the last three or four years. This clearly indicates that the certificates are not genuine, Nikolov said.

Tolerance certificates are documents introduced in 2001 to allow private and public buildings built before that year without the necessary documents for legalization to be tolerated by construction authorities.

Nikolov also said that no new arrests have been made in connection with the case.

Last week, 25 people were arrested in a police operation in Primorski borough, and Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told reporters that the authorities were investigating not only the creation of the illegal settlement in Baba Alino but also other unlawful practices within Varna Municipality.

/PP/