The accumulation of irregularities in the questioned megaconcurso de quiscos de playa de Formentera adds one more chapter: the concessionaires failed to comply with the obligation to install removable structures as established by the Coastal Regulation and now want to avoid the requirement to erect the stalls at least one month as stated in the bidding documents.
As of this Wednesday, the new owners of the beach bars are in breach of the concession contract when the deadline to dismantle the facilities in the natural sections of the beaches for a month between January 15 and February 15 was met, as established by the Consell de Formentera itself, which it now seeks to circumvent. As established by the Directorate General of the Coast and Sea of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, kiosks in this type of sectors “cannot be permanent”. Article 68 of the Coastal Regulation states that “these facilities shall be seasonal and removable in all its elements”. Although now they try to deny it, this was known to the concessionaires and was established in the contracting specifications. One of the concessionaires had publicly acknowledged this. On June 11 last year, in an interview on Ràdio Illa, Juanjo Costa, responsible for the kiosk in Migjorn – who was ‘authorized’ to bury pipes without a license under the protected dunes, had argued that they were anxious to be exempted from the obligation to dismantle their facilities for a month. According to what he said at the time, this in practice implied being left without beach establishments for three months: one to assemble, one to dismantle and the month without installations. Implicitly, in these statements, the irregularity is exposed: the structures installed on the beaches of Formentera are not removable. The fact is that, as confirmed by a company dedicated to the installation of wooden beach bars in modules prepared for beaches, the dismantling takes just two days, as well as the installation of the same.
The actual costs of the operation
For the owners of the chiringuitos, the dismantling, storage and reassembly would cost approximately 50,000 euros, as published by Ràdio Illa.
However, the specialized company consulted by La Voz de Ibiza stated that the real cost of this operation is 6,500 euros in total: 3,000 euros for assembly and 3,500 euros for disassembly. Each process takes two days. This implies barely 13% of the supposed values used by the owners to sustain their arguments and avoid the regulations that establish the obligation to disassemble.
What the Coastal Regulation says
The General Coastal Regulation, updated in 2014, determines the regulatory framework for coastal protection and legal certainty.
It establishes not only the obligation to install non-fixed modular structures for the operation of the beach bars, but also to dismantle them at the end of each season.
“The seasonal services may have an authorization for a maximum period of four years, although the facilities must be dismantled after the end of each of the seasons included in the term of duration of the authorization,” it states. In addition, in article 68, referred to the “occupations in the natural stretches of the beaches”, it determines that “the establishments expendedores of foods and drinks will not exceed 70 square meters, of which, 20, like maximum, will be able to be destined to closed installation. These facilities will be seasonal and removable in all its elements”. The lifting of the occupation will take “implicit the obligation for the beneficiary of the administrative title enabled for this purpose to restore the beach to its natural state prior to the occupation or use,” as stated in the Regulation.
What is a “demountable” structure
On the other hand, Article 110 specifies what is meant by “demountable facilities“. Those that:
- At the most, they will require specific foundation works, which, in any case, will not protrude from the ground.
- Are made up of prefabricated series elements, modules, panels or similar, without on-site processing of materials or use of welding.
- They are assembled and disassembled by sequential processes, being able to be erected without demolition and being easily transportable as a whole.
This is also established in Article 51 of Law 22/1988.
