The odious oligarch was accused of building 2 more resorts in the protected territories of the Carpathians shutterstock

The odious oligarch was accused of building 2 more resorts in the protected territories of the Carpathians

Katerina Belousova

The environmental consequences of building such a monster resort will outweigh any short-term benefits

In the Carpathians, "Bukovel" LLC plans to build 2 more megaresorts, in addition to the Svydovets resort, namely Bystrytsia and Turbat with a size of 1400 hectares.

Already in 2023, the company of the odious Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi may start construction work, which will lead to an environmental disaster, the Free Svydovets community on Facebook reports.

Eco-activists emphasized that at the end of 2022, LLC "Bukovel" turned to two rural councils of Polyanytska (Ivano-Frankivsk region) and Ust-Chornyanska (Transcarpathia) to start preparations for construction. Village councils gave the planned resorts a green light.

The message emphasized that these two resorts will have more than 200 km of ski tracks and 28 ski lifts. At the same time, they will be able to receive 25,000 people. And the planned resort Svydovets should receive up to 28,000 people at the same time. The plans include 1,400 hectares of territory, which will house more than 30 cable cars, 230 km of ski slopes, 700 hectares of hotels and other buildings.

"All three planned resorts are located next to each other and will be connected to the current Bukovel resort." That is, as a result, a monster resort is planned, designed for more than 65 thousand people at the same time! For comparison, it's like building a whole city in the middle of the Carpathians, the size of more than half of Uzhgorod," the authors emphasized.

They emphasized that the preparation of documents necessary for construction is currently underway.

"That is, Kolomoiskyi and his people not only did not abandon their intention to build a huge resort Svydovets. They also plan to build trails, ski lifts and hotels in the mountains adjacent to Svidovets – the Bratkivskyi ridge and the forests around Mount Ur'ya," the eco-activists emphasized.

They explained that the environmental consequences of building such a monster resort would outweigh any short-term benefits, because

  • at least 3,000 hectares of wild Carpathian forests, meadows and rivers will be destroyed or damaged;

Eco-activists emphasized that according to the available maps, construction, ski tracks and lifts will pass through protected areas, habitats of numerous red-listed plants and animals, unique mountain lakes of Svidovets, etc.

  • the resort "Svidovets" will need almost 9 thousand cubic meters of water every day and it will create the same amount of wastewater. With two new resorts, the need will reach 15 thousand cubic meters daily;

The authors explained that for this it will be necessary to take water from a number of Carpathian rivers, in particular from the Black Tisza. In 2022, the drought was already felt even by the inhabitants of the highlands, and "Bukovel" has not solved the sewage problem for many years.

"All this does not sound as rosy as the golden mountains promised to local communities by Kolomoiskyi and his henchmen. So far, it seems that even the leadership of Ukraine is not publicly on the side of the oligarchs and supports the construction of a mega-resort," eco-activists emphasized.

As EcoPolitic reported before, ecoactivists called on the higher authorities of Ukraine to stop the transformation of the Svydovetsky massif into a ski resort.

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