Radnevo will not miss its chance of becoming the best place to live.
Visit a Mr. Noncho Vodenicharov, Mayor of Radnevo Municipality

Since they came to existence, the town of Radnevo and the municipality have become a symbol of the Bulgarian industry. What is your account of the past four decades? What is the determining factor in the development of the region and the town?
Radnevo municipality incorporates 22 settlements and has a population of 24 000 people. There are big deposits of low-calorie brown coal, mined through removal, in an area of 230 km2. There are also natural deposits of gypsum and marble, there is also mining of additives. Agriculture is developing well. Ovcharitza dam covers an area of 627 hectares and is a favourite spot for recreation and tourism.

Old people say that somewhere around 1700 old man Radni and other Bulgarians settled here. They were drawn in by the fertile humus soil, the availability of water and the mild climate. Gradually, they built a nunnery and a monastery and in 1873 the construction of St. Ivan Rilski church began.

The 70s of XIX century were a turning point, when the French company Baron Hirsch built the railway connection Simeonovgrad-Radnevo-Nova Zagora.

In the town’s forty years of existence, a lot has been done and we’ll keep up the good work so that Radnevo can keep its leading position in the country in terms of GNP per capita.

The community centre for culture has a key role in our spiritual life. There are several artistic formations working there – Gergyovden, a folk group of almost 250 dancers in all age groups, a school of sport dancing, a school of folk singing under the guidance of the famous Thracian folk singer Dinka Rousseva. The cultural life is greatly contributed by the Geo Milev community centre and the Art Gallery, where there are annual exhibitions and plainairs, the Maritza Iztok Archaeological Museum, which has over 3000 exhibits.

That the administration of Maritza Iztok coal mining company is situated in this municipality is another thing, which contributes to the development of the region and the town. The output is structured in three mines. The staff amounts to 9 000 people. The extraction of brown coal for the energy sector – the TPP in the complex – ranges from 21 to 30 million tons. In 2003 the company got the Golden Rose prize for the third time for their contribution to the taxpayers, but unfortunately it is not us who gets the money.

Maritza Iztok 2 TPP, which is the most modern one on the Balkans, is also on our territory. In 2003 the plant generated 6 billion kWatt/hr of electricity with a staff of 2000 people.

Traditional problems of Bulgarian towns have to do with migration, negative growth and birth rate, means of livelihood, etc. What is the situation in Radnevo?
Migration and negative growth are stateside problems. A lot of young people changed the small provincial town for the big city and Bulgaria for another country as a place for future realization. I appeal to them not to leave Radnevo as they have future here but everyone has the right to choose.

For the first half year the unemployment is 13%, which is low compared to other municipalities. At the end of 2003 Radnevo entered a project in the national program From Social Aid to Employment. Under this project 167 people from 15 settlements have been employed. Under the Retirement Help program, two women work in the Archaeological Museum and the mayor’s office in the village of Troyanovo and under the program Public Administration Employment of Young People with Higher Education three girls have found work in the municipal administration. We have hired 13 unemployed people under the Protecting the 2004 Harvest program.

Unemployment is high mainly among the minorities and the young people. In our municipality there are 36 people of reduced work capacity registered. We will do our best to find them work but for that to happen, funds from the Labour Bureau Directorate must be granted.

Taking care of the old and lonely people is another priority in our work. The social patronage system takes care of 167 people (from the town and 14 villages), of whom 54 are handicapped. Beside the main activity – preparing food and distributing it, the social patronage workers communicate with the family doctors and provide immediate help by buying medicines, cleaning the houses, shopping, paying the bills, etc.

The municipality has a wonderful centre for rehabilitation and integration of handicapped people. Some 20 people – handicapped and persons with temporary incapacity to work, avail themselves of its services. For people with over 90% damages, there are rehabilitation services at home.

What are the prospects of the town and region’s further development? What do you think will happen when Bulgaria joins the EU and what will the effect of global changes be?
The prospects of the town and region’s development naturally have to do with the large coal deposits and their sensible use in the power plants. According to preliminary research, there will be enough coal until 2060 under the same work regime. Another means of living for the people is farming. Agricultural lands cover about 300 km², 180 of which are worked by 10 farming cooperations and 11 tenant farmers. They grow wheat, barley, sunflower, corn, millet and durable plants – vines, cherries, almonds, also tobacco, cotton and beetroot. Vegetable production is also well developed. It became a prerequisite for drawing foreign investments into Trakiyski Plod OOD, where the municipality also has a share.

There will undoubtedly be changes after the country joins the EU. Hopefully, they will be positive for the municipality. We have made it our goal to draw funds from the European funds. We have entered over 30 projects with different agencies and ministries. So far we have won 9. We expect to get some 2 million EURO from SAPARD to reconstruct the four-class roads in the municipality. We received 460 000 BGN as an interest-free loan to renovate the street lighting.

One of our priorities is to improve the ecological situation. To do that the municipal administration have set up a clear policy and together with their partners from the Ministry of Environment and Waters, the Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources, Maritza Iztok Mines EAD, Maritza Iztok 2 TPP EAD and Remoteks-Radnevo EAD they signed a memorandum of understanding. It is a guarantee that in the nearest future the situation will get better.

In early September, Radnevo municipality got an ISO 9001:2000 quality management certificate from the English auditing company BVQI. These highly qualified auditors were impressed with the level of service to citizens.

On September 7 the town of Radnevo celebrated its 40th anniversary. Is this much or little time for a town?
I do not think time is of great importance. For a town it is important to be alive and its people to continue associating their future with it. It is because of that that the last few days before the celebrations were the most joyous for me. It is exceptionally nice to feel the joint work of all your fellow townsmen to make our birthday wonderful. The work, ideas and efforts of our people were full of enthusiasm. There is a common spirit binding us today, so I believe that Radnevo will not miss its chance of becoming the best and, why not, the most beautiful place to live. I am happy we managed to awake the hope of our people and head swiftly towards the future. It is also important that we found understanding and partnership among the bigger and smaller companies in the region: Maritza Iztok Mines EAD, Maritza Iztok 2 TPP EAD, Remoteks-Radnevo EAD, Inmat OOD, etc.

What are your personal ambitions for the development of the municipality?
My program is very ambitious and I have tried to achieve a lot more than I had promised in my election campaign. What I would very happily say is that it is the people of Radnevo who have changed. They have woken up from the lethargy, there is high spirits and more smiles. It showed while we were preparing the celebrations - we were the organizers but the town’s people too were willing and enterprising to take part.

The person Noncho Vodenicharov?
Down-to-earth, firmly walking and measuring each step of the way ahead and up. I am definitely an optimist.

Juliana Tomova