When the Balearic environment ministry drew up the plan for the management of natural resources in the Mondragó Nature Park, the fate of the Sa Font de n'Alis chiringuito beach bar looked sealed. It would have to be demolished and replaced by a demountable bar away from the beach itself.
From 2002, the Costas Authority had given authorisation for the chiringuito. Last year, it did not. The bar didn't open and there were no beach services with the exception of sunloungers and parasols. For this coming summer, the same situation is likely to apply, but meantime the argument about the chiringuito continues.
Santanyi town hall has made it clear that it will not demolish the bar until it receives an official document from the Costas establishing that there will never be another concession for the bar. No such document has so far been issued.
The town hall maintains that the bar is municipal property and is not giving up the possibility of using it. Maria Pons, the mayor, says that the town hall has a public deed which shows that the bar is municipal. If the concession were to be renewed, then the town hall would continue as previously by putting it out to contract.
Pons explains that the town hall will demolish the bar if there is clarity from the Costas. A demolition project has been drawn up, but there has been no official notification regarding the concession.
The environment minister, Miquel Mir, says that the management plan for the nature park is clear in requiring demolition. He adds that after many years of the town hall and the Costas seeking to establish whose property it is, "they have not been able to do this". He maintains that there is no document of proof and that the town hall does not have the beach bar registered in its name.