Experts from the “Water Management” Directorate at the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Basin Directorates discussed with the team of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) the action program presented by the Bank and the suggested deadlines for drafting the River Basin Management Plans (RBMP) so as to shorten the presently accumulated delay.

On request by the Minister of Environment and Water Rositsa Karamfilova from a meeting on January 27,  the IBRD presented a program to overcome the delay, as well as proposals for optimizing the process of drafting the RBMPs, which were discussed. According to the developed proposal, the last sections of the four RBMPs will be submitted to the MOEW by March 20, 2023 in English. In parallel, the process of their translation will be organized, which will allow the RBMP drafts to be published for public consultation at the beginning of April and thus the delay will be reduced to one month.

The RBMPs and Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) for the period 2022-2027 are drafted pertinent to an Agreement between the IBRD and the MOEW, whereby European Commission recommendations are to be address and good European and international practices and experience is to be considered. The main reason for the delay is that the IBRD team has not yet completed the assessment of the ecological state of surface waters and has not determined the reference conditions for the hydromorphological quality elements - an activity of fundamental importance according to the recommendations by the European Commission.

The MOEW made efforts to extend the Agreement with the IBRD in compliance with the requirements of the Operational Program “Environment”, which funds the activities pertinent to the update the RBMPs and the FRMPs.