Għadira Bay concessions are not observing the conditions of their permit, the Government Property Department has noted, warning operators to regularise their position.
However, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association has taken exception to the “blanket warning”, which it was considering a “threat” to the four main operators of the beach concessions that it represented.
The official warning was made in a letter that spells out the price they would have to pay if they infringed their permit obligations. In that case, the Land Commissioner would proceed to “dismantle any irregularities” and, if these persisted, would consider revoking the permits.
The costs of dismantling the department would incur would be added to the permit fees of the following year and licences would not be issued if the fees were not paid.
Moreover, the department warned, to release any objects and structures that had been confiscated, a payment of €1,000 would have to be made to the department and the costs to remove them would have to be covered too.
If a permit is revoked, no request for a new licence, covering that same site, would be considered before a six-month period elapsed, even if made by someone else. Neither would it be considered before payment of €10,000 as an administrative cost to the department, it outlined.
The MHRA said it did “not accept” the warning to the four main beach concession operators at Għadira, without indicating exactly where they were infringing the law.
“The official warning is devoid of any specific accusations and what corrective action has to be taken,” it said in reaction to the letter.
But the Parliamentary Secretariat responsible for the Land Department said the conditions were clearly listed in each encroachment permit and included sticking to the delineated area, which should also remain accessible to the public at all times and could not be occupied with unused deckchairs.
Regarding going beyond the beach concessions, the association is claiming that the public has a right to rent beds and umbrellas and place them anywhere on the beach at their own discretion on the same principle that they could bring their personal items and put them where they pleased.
It has boiled the long-standing Għadira issue down to “too many operators for a beach that is receding”.
Mellieħa mayor Robert Cutajar, who has embarked on a drive to upgrade the beach to Blue Flag status by next year, recently said random inspections by the Malta Tourism Authority and the Land Department were being carried out to check that establishments and kiosks were complying with their obligations. He said they should not think they could get away with whatever suited them.
Mr Cutajar pointed out that only around a third of the beach was in the hands of the concession operators.