The finance ministry is planning to launch electronic auctions for concessions of coastal and seafront tracts, to be exploited by entrepreneurs providing services to swimmers and beachfront visitors.

According to the ministry, the online auctions are scheduled to begin on 16 April for simple use of coastal and seafront tracts.

This is the second year in a row that the auctions are being held, after last year’s successful pilot test, through which concessions for 61 seafront tracts were awarded.

The tracts will be used to offer services to bathers, including refreshment facilities and the rental of chaise longues.

The ministry, with qualitatively upgraded services and a streamlining of procedures, hopes to draw the maximum participation of entrepreneurs, in a bid to increase revenues and to better serve swimmers and the public that visits the country’s beaches.

Last year, the final price at auction was on average 50.3 percent higher than the starting price.

The target for 2018 is to organise and conduct a larger number of online auctions than last year, so that the auctions may become a firmly established institution in the coming years.

The finance ministry underlined that the online auction process is completely transparent, and is being conducted by the General Secretariat of Public Property, in cooperation with the ministry’s General Secretariat of Information Systems.