The idea to open up the city of Burgas to the sea has been the subject of numerous discussions for a long time now. All draft general urban plans for Burgas and the territory of the port of Burgas from 1978, 1984 and 1992, include ideas about the construction of a direct connection between the central areas of the city and the sea. The socioeconomic conditions and the limited capacity of the port complex have always been a serious obstacle for the realization of these ideas. In 1992 the administration of Burgas Port AD and other Bulgarian experts started comprehensive studies for the reconstruction and development of the port of Burgas. As a result, a very successful partnership was established with the port of Barcelona. In the period from 1994 to 1996 a number of feasibility studies were commissioned and completed for different port districts. The expertise and experience gained this way have been synthesized in the 1996 plan called ‘General Plan for the Development of Burgas Port by 2015’. This General Plan was approved by the Ministry of Transport with Order No. РД-08-244 of 21 March 1997.
Opening up the city to the sea starts to look a little bit more feasible in 1996 with the development of the cited General Plan. This project contemplated (without setting any timeframes) the future possibility for public access to one part of the port of Burgas (East) by gradually turning the area into a public zone. The economic conditions of recent times, however, have drastically decreased the effectiveness of the quays in the area of Burgas East Port. At the same time, the expansion of the capacity of Terminal 2 in accordance with the General Plan for Burgas Port have created conditions for relocation of a significant part of the resources of the port to a new place. Perhaps these two factors have had their favourable contribution for the realization of the ideas for public access to Burgas Port. A major and undeniable factor was Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union where the common policy for the development of ports and their connection with the cities is definitely in favour of a future public access area for the citizens of Burgas, Bulgaria, and the EU.
With Decision No. 38/ 25 January 2008, the Council of Ministers announced the Public Access Area (PAA) as an area of national significance as a part of the National Transport Infrastructure.
With Decision No. 677/ 29 October 2008, the Council of Ministers created a Management Board for the project and authorised it to coordinate and manage the activities under the project.
With Decision of 7 March 2008, the Municipal Council of Burgas approved the project for PAA and the Mayor signed the memorandum proposed by the Ministry of Transport laying down the basic principles and objectives for the implementation of the project.
With Decision of the Minister of Transport of 2009 and with decision of the Municipal Council of Burgas, a company was set up to implement the project entitled ‘Intermodal Passenger Terminal – Public Access Area, Burgas’. The project company structured the plan for the implementation of the project, and executed all preliminary activities including legal and economic analyses of the possibilities for the implementation of the project. It further designed a detailed development plan for Stage 1 and prepared the technical file for Stage 2. In March 2012 the project company was wound up. The work on the implementation of the project was taken over by the Port Infrastructure National Enterprise.
