Formentera’s eight beach kiosks must be taken down by 31st December, the date on which the previous eight-year concession contract, which was extended this year, expires.
Vicent Roselló, the beach concessionaires’ representative in the PIME employers’ association, explained that last October the temporary permit holders for kiosks in the island’s shoreline area received a notification from the Consell telling them that their permits would be extended until 30th November, “and then we have a month to take them down and leave the beach clean by 31st December”, he said. He added that, for the moment, there is no information on the new tender process.
Meanwhile, Formentera Consell officials assured this newspaper that they are “finalising the process to put it out to tender”. Roselló said that “if another extension is not sought, there will be no beach bars this winter after the ten years or so they”ve been open”. But this concern is heightened by the administrative procedures involved in a tender of this nature which, in addition to the beach kiosks, also includes the beach umbrellas, sun loungers and sailing schools.
In the case of the beach kiosks, the permit was renewed annually, divided into summer and winter periods, as this arrangement was designed to allow them to open at weekends in winter as an attraction for tourists on short breaks.
Vicent Roselló pointed out that PIME has asked for an information meeting with the new conseller for the Environment, Antoni Tur, “to update us and find out what their intentions are”.
The concessionaires’ representative also noted that they have still not been refunded the proportional part of the fee due for the months of 2020, the year of the pandemic, when they were unable to open: “We were told that we would be refunded, bearing in mind that in February we all paid the annual fee but we were unable to open until June; they keep saying yes, yes, but nothing has arrived and we have not been compensated, when other sectors have been, such as public road installations,” he said.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.