Notice out for cruise port contractors
(CNS): Two weeks before Cayman goes to the polls, the tourism ministry has issued a request for relevant contractors to pre-qualify for the cruise berthing project. No press release or comment has been issued by the current government about the completion of the KPMG report on the financing model or how it would work for the proposed redesign. Nevertheless, a notice has been published in the local print media asking for companies interested in designing, building and financing the project to apply for pre-qualification before the end of June.
The notice states that “the project functional requirements” include the construction of two piers for four berths, land reclamation to adjoin the existing cruise and cargo area, the construction of a cruise terminal and commercial buildings, the expansion of the cargo port with quays and a roll-on, roll-off jetty, as well as pavement for the two ports and a parking lot.
Detailed documents will be available on Monday, 15 May, the notice states, and companies must submit all of their relevant documents and information by noon on 30 June.
However, there are clearly no guarantees that this project will even be government policy on that date.
The public notice in the classified section of the newspaper comes ahead of any indication from the tourism ministry about what consultants KMPG concluded regarding the potential financing model for the project, or how much it would cost and the extent of the liability to the public purse. It is not clear what impact the re-design for the proposed project to push the piers into deeper water, allegedly to minimise reef damage, will have on other aspects of the marine environment and whether that has been confirmed as the new model. There is also no indication if a new environmental impact assessment will be conducted.
The port has remained a controversial topic in the community and has featured heavily on the campaign trail, with many candidates picking up on the public discontent over the plan, declining to support it. While some still believe a cruise port may be necessary, not all of those are convinced that the centre of George Town Harbour is the best location and others are not convinced it’s needed at all. The threat to Seven Mile Beach also remains high on the list of concerns.
When government embarked on a public consultation for this project earlier in this administration, those who took part were three to one against and the support was dominated by the owners of Kirk Freeport, their staff and other downtown merchants. Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell has, however, denied that his push and enthusiasm for the project has anything to do with his family connections.
There has been continued and widespread opposition to the project with several well attended demonstrations. The opposition to the berthing facilities comes from those with environmental concerns but there are many others who also question the development of cruise piers because of the cost and the lack of benefits likely to follow through for most locals.
CNS has contacted the tourism ministry for comment and more details. Check back this week for further stories about the latest step in the controversial project.
The notice that appeared in local print media
Category: development, Local News
So many locals that are to benefit form this cruise pier and so many foreigners that are the ones pushing against it.
Most who tell you not to build it have nothing to gain or lose and no skin in the game.
Such a shame
Miss Cayman of last year did her part to bring people to Cayman. If we are looking at stayover tourism, then why isn’t it ingrained in each student at public school that they must do the same. I say at public school because that is a government school and they can dictate exactly what is taught.
Why aren’t the university scholarship recipients mandated as a condition of the scholarship to bring back at least X number of visitors to Cayman per year if they want to keep the scholarship. They are government funded and it has to be paid somehow.
Each student is provided with a roadshow of documentation/flags/giveaways etc and briefed on how to present the Cayman Islands as a tourism destination.
All of the noise I see against the dock are from people that don’t live in cayman and definitely can’t vote. I went to check out the so called protest and you’d be lucky to scrap together two dozen Caymanians.
What good is building a dock for visitors when you can’t even keep your own oceans or streets cleaned? Keep talking shit without action and let the dump remind everyone of the incompetence surrounding the Cayman Islands Government.
Indeed. Just take one peek through the windows of The Landmark: what should be prime retail space greeting cruise ship arrivals is nothing but a tawdry “everything must go” t-shirt store, as Dart tries to clawback losses from giving that idiot HJT free-rein on CCC at the same time as preventing willing and able retailers to actually operate from that location and improve the look and feel of downtown GT. And don’t get me started on the mess that Moxam has made of the upstairs space in the same building.
You couldn’t be more right. But Dart also filling spaces with t-shirt people to take the competition away from their other retail does GT no favours in its appeal to visitors.
And look at the garbage & water that filters into Harbour Drive from that building’s air conditioner or some other major leak. It is nasty and it is right where our tourists have to walk. Shame, shame.
If the large retailers were not already in GT (and i don’t just mean Kirk), would there really be a push to build this port in GT?
if the answer to that is no, what difference does 5/10/20 years make if we go back to
basics and truly review all options (SouthSound/East End/North Sound – hopefully not, but anyway)….hey, let them have first option on similar square footage on a development that doesnt occur in GT, who cares….this shouldnt be done simply because of existing interests, it should be done if the country needs it and somewhere it makes sense
and the existing royal watler terminal and cargo lands can easily be re-purposed for a regeneration of GT as a business district/mixed use resdential (it’s happened all over the world)
why not do something properly for once, with real long term vision rather than commit a lot towards a development that doesn’t seem to have majority support locally, and certainly doesn’t seem to have pressure from overseas – when did the cruise lines demand it be built or else they pull their ships? if Royal Caribbean and Carnival pull out, many more small operators will come in….let carnival and royal take a jump, there’s plenty to go round
we do not need this port, we do not need it now, we cant afford it anyhow
and can someone please tell me where the $200M that supposedly gets generated from the cruise ships annually actually goes? i bet we’ll find that most of it goes back offshore, and doesn’t stay at all and infact the true benefit to us is tiny…really, $200M? no way, we’re being sold a fairytale here guys
Here’s a way to get loads of repeat tourists and to have a booming economy. Have the government leaders get UCCI and ICCI as real universities or that are affiliated with international accredited universities.
Better idea is to have two extra universities on the island. Just as the med school is here. That way you flood the island with students. You get the student visa fee. You get housing rentals filled. They will spend on island and do not compete for local jobs. They will dive, go to the restaurants and they will have family visits in the hotels. They will feel nostalgia and return to the island and encourage their friends to visit.
Many sleepy towns in the US have done this and they have a thriving economy solely from the students and the administrators working and living there. An extra plus is the local population will have other local options for university. Especially for those that cannot afford to go off island for studies.
Just as CEC sold itself as having benefits which are ancillary. The universities will do the same. Except they will bring in hundreds of students.
Many Caymanians now don’t mind the expats. The problem is they don’t like them coming here with no experience and no real education and put in positions which they are either trained for in Cayman or they don’t do the work but the subordinates do all the work and they receive the praises.
This port will destroy more than what will be dredged. It will destroy all the surrounding reefs from silt and sewage. Everyone knows the cruise ships have done it in the past and will do it again.
If we are talking about stayover tourism versus cruise tourism. I would rather students than the cheap overweight tourists. I see the students as longer term stayover tourists.
Stayover tourists help the hotels yes but all the hotel jobs go to work permit holders. I haven’t met one caymanian at the new Kimpton and that was supposed to bring 600 jobs. The cruise tourists are the ones that caymanian voters make money from.
The governments of past have focused all their efforts on the finance industry and neglected our airport and port for cargo and cruises. I get it, finance and banking are the main money maker for Cayman but tourism isn’t that far behind. There has to be more jobs in tourism that are caymanian. I swear all the expats work in finance and Caymanians have a hard time climbing the corporate ladder for banking and accounting and Lawyers we are finally realizing we need better infrastructure for tourism decades late. Let’s get the airport and cargo and cruises done.
Only foolish countries fall behind the times. We are modernized in everything except how we allow one of our main pillars to get to the island. Both of our gateways, the airport and the seaport are centuries behind. It is a disgrace to be the most opulent island with the most primative forms of transport. At least one is already started. Now we need the other to make us the true best destination in the Caribbean.
My main concern is the coral relocation
Since they estimed it at 40 million there is no way we should waste money on that. Why would we spend almost as much on the moving of coral as building our airport?
Many Caymanians are in need of work, but many more will be in need if we don’t have the proper infrastructure in place for our imports to the island and getting the cruise business locked in. We have it good compared to many other islands right now but that is a fragile thing.
We’ll have plenty of work for when the mound of shit resting in town needs to be spread out so cruise ships don’t mistake it as a mountain.
Cayman needs both types of tourism, one feeds the other. It’s silly to say we don’t need cruise. I’ve met hundreds of people either staying in condos or actual codon owners themselves and most of them all came here first on a ship. We are missing so many boats now that who knows how many of the next generation on stayover tourists are lot to other destinations.
We all know hotel guests spend more, but we gonna lose out on them too
I wouldn’t say that there is no coral out in front of the port but in full disclosure it is being extremely over played by the environmental group. I’m a huge diver and I’ve only been out to Balboa once (I did so after all the hype) and I was very disappointed. Probably the worst dive I’ve been on in these waters. I’m hoping the new design and deeper docks can take away some of the concern. That would be valuable information. If it does reduce or get rid of most of the dredging risk then I’m all for it.
I hear you on the dump being the most important concern for the country, but how pray tell do you think things like the dump and schools get built? They don’t exactly stream cash into the country, things like the dock have to bring in money to pay for them.
I’m not sold on all the conflict of interest talk or the family ties that keep getting alleged but if it was true then let’s give the dump to one of the kirkconnell because Moses is the only one other than Marco that’s getting the projects finished.
To be completely honest what this country needs in Moses as Premier, I know PPM isn’t going to make that switch so I’ll have to take Alden as leader to get Moses and his productivity, not the worst trade off in the world. Still wish Moses was Premier though.
Moses Kirkconnell has been the most productive MLA in decades. PPM as a whole has done a great job getting finances in order and knocking down the debt but Kirkconnell’s ministries have flourished. I hope next time they make him in charge of the dump so that gets done too.
I think they should be the ones to get the finances under control because the ppm was the ones who caused it in the first place. I believe it is very irresponsible for an out going administration to send such documents out days before an election that they surely will loose. All Moses wants is to cement this plan for his family owned businesses. The truth be known this government has had more conflicts of interest than any other, and yes I know the ppm reps will come back so for example Gerry Kirkconnell on the port authority board and he owns 75% of the duty free shops in town that depends on the cruse ships. Ridiculous, ppm is as transparent and mud.
So that means what? That he has a right to bankrupt Cayman building a Port facility out of Government finance just because you think he did good? In the absence of news over potential financing this is a deathtrap for Cayman and Caymanians.
The Chinese deal Mac wanted so badly , would have bankrupted the country, which is only one of the reasons it was stopped by the FCO.
Considering PPMs track record they are the only ones making decisions for the better of our people as a whole. I hope they get back in so we can get this dump fixed too.
Has anyone been out of the glass bottom boat recently? I heard all this talk about Balboa but there is nothing to see there. There is hardly any coral out in the coral area. Sure there is coral on eden rock and further north but those are all outside the dredging area. None of that is going to be dredged. All this is being held up because the shuttle boat people put money into a campaign against the dock. This push against is fully made up garbage
You haven’t been paying much attention. If you had, you would realize that Eden Rock will indeed be effected by the dredging.
Go to the presentations and know what you are talking about.
This is how FAKE news gets spread. People like you.
Why cant people who live on a small island actually get in the water and have a look instead of needing a glass bottom boat?
It’s a simple choice really we either build the dock for our Caymanians and Caymanian jobs or we dont modernize our infrastructure do to pres sure from the tender support group and the dive masters that are not caymanian.
Kirkbots back….haven’t seen you guys for a while…its actually been very pleasant without you.
Didn’t the PPM have a plan to restore George Town?
What happened with that plan? I don’t see much improvement.
There is no leadership except a tourism minister who is related to a large waterfront jewelry retailer. Can you spell conflict of interest?
The country doesn’t need a dock it needs to rehab George Town but unfortunately I don’t think the PPM are up to the task.
And while we wait, the stores continue to be filled with cheap t-shirt providers and George Town looks worse by the day. No point building a dock so retailers can take more money from the cruise ship passengers if all we are selling is t-shirts.
The GT rehab plan goes hand in hand with a new cruise facility. The financing and need to upgrade GT are also linked.
If no dock to bring in the extra business and therefore warrant the expenditure…who you gonna do it for…?
Where is the notice for the Dump? Before it is too late fix the Dump first.
This is irrelevant until the new government is sitting. What a waste of time.
At the end of the day, it is the dump that needs the Fixx
couldn’t agree with you more. Why on earth should the blooming dock be put there when ships must to to Spotts in bad weather any way?
Casting call for local contractors willing to blindly take on the unlimited project liability for something that hasn’t been fully engineered, designed, scoped, EIAed, or financed. Must be willing to over-bill and pay political and industry participant kickbacks. Familiarity with basic money laundering and offshore shell companies a plus.
Kickbacks do not feature in PPM government negotiations, unlike other administrations.
You are right. Its kick forwards.
Baloney! They aren’t featured in any party operations, but they are still there!
Look into CAL’s new planes. TCruise Berthing. The John Gray Gymnasium. The Concessions for Developers. Careful party loyalists.
Yes 928am but graft plays a major role in how and when its done It is said non are so blind but those who refuse even to look and see. How sad for us we have so many like you eh???
Just think about this , what can Mr KirkConnell do at this present time, with the Election just a weeks away , and not knowing that he would be re-elected .
He needs to remember that Cayexit is coming this Election and he could be included .
If you go back and look some of the petitions against were filled out and handed in long before the public presentation at mary miller hall. This was coordinated and a conspiracy against the port long before anyone else knew.
Until there are public bankable arrival commitments from the liners, there is no economic feasibility that can be proven – which this makes this dumb from an economic perspective, regardless of any Mary Miller Hall presentation.
Forget the effing dock. Fix the stinking eyesore known as the dump.
They need to do both. It’s silly to think you have to choose one or the other.
It’s interesting to hear the continuous reporting discrediting the side that is supporting the port but the blind eye turned on those against. If you read through the surveys you quickly see that at least a third of them are foreigners and most of those say they are divers. These are all organized by the local dive operator that is the main organizer against the port as he was the Vice President of DEMA. On top of that a group of the responses are from a young kids class who the teacher made it an assignment to send in the form.
Quite aside from the serious and legitimate environmental concerns, where are the credible and bankable arrival commitments to support a business case and financing model? Where is the revised engineering study, and EIA, or are we planning to skip that scrutiny again? It’s premature (to say the least) to start recruiting construction firm interest. This is a pre-election political gambit.
7.34- what is your point? Opposition is not allowed? If the pro-port arguments can be disassembled, it means they are pretty weak arguments in the first place.
The PPM have proven they are not up to the task in dealing with the country’s biggest problems.
What a surprise something happens just prior to election. Will the voters be fooled?
People always complain about change until they see it happen and all of the good that comes with it. The whole island was against the first airport expansion and thought it was crazy, now we are way over capacity and our island looks like a third world nation with a ragedy old landing strip and we’re having to triple the size of the airport. The cruise port is the same, we are decades behind and our tourists and locals suffer because of the antiquated tender system that takes most of the day to get people moved. Some of those boats are older than half the politicians running in this election
Over-room capacity, and under-occupancy yes. With another 600 new empty rooms on the way.
Whatever happened to the Dump? PPM promised action before the elections.
Never going to happen.
How does one conduct a secondary EIA without a new engineer-reviewed design? Wtf are we doing here?
This move just takes campaign tactics to whole new level . The other Candidates opposing it stand up and speak out.
Thats the moses i Know totally without regard for not a soul but he self and the family legacy.
We need global cooling
How many thousands of cayman voters depend on cruises to feed their family and children? More than you seem to know. Got to put berthing in if any of these politicians want to serve more than one term
Not true! We need more stay-over tourists, not trinket-buyers!
Most caymanians aka the real voters know that we need a cruise dock somewhere. Not all of us agree where that should be but we know we need one. I think It should go in town because we been dropping the anchors there for so long anyway. We already have everything they need built up in town. They might as well do it the way they planned it.
The “real voters” know we need a dock? Are you sure? What do the fake voters think? I’m a real voter and I DON’T want a dock!
Make sure we can eat too…we meaning my Caribbean people who are indigenous to these parts, ensure your local people eat here.
I’m Haitian we don’t play ask our leaders we will kill for food like the panthers.
It takes balls to do the right thing. Making the right decision for our country’s future takes hard work and determination. Ppm shouldn’t get bullied by these tree hugger groups that aren’t even made up of Caymanians.
10.17, Tree huggers might just save your sorry asses from those Caymanians who wish to exploit Cayman…kind of ironic…
The biggest issue in cayman is jobs right now. We need a port not just to create jobs but to sustain the ones we have. I’d this port doesn’t go through jobs are going to start to disappear and crime is going to sky rocket.
What jobs except for people they will bring in on work permits!
If we had arrival commitments, a bigger port would necessitate a transformation of the job market, with fewer surviving taxi jobs, and more private coaches. Fewer local ratty operators and more liner-owned boats. Greater numbers means greater logistical difficulties in managing these crowds. Things will have to change considerably, and few locals will be the beneficiaries of this expansion. Look at any other port in the world where cruise berthing has happened.
Maybe it would create jobs, but I can tell you no Caymanian will work low paid hours..lit will be done by WP holders, so guessing you are in the pay of someone who is going to line his own pocket?
You are right.
That’s simply not true. The tourist get to the shore no matter what and still don’t spend enough to support more than a small percentage. We need to focus on tourists that stay on island for longer than 7 hours. It’s the only simple solution to create jobs.
Focus on both. It’s called tourism.
Yes! The stay over tourists leave far more money here than the walking gawkers.
We need the port. We need JOBS. This is why all of my family is voting PPM.
Following the proud Cayman tradition of destroying the most valuable thing you have, the ocean habitat, for a few short term jobs. The port has been a terrible idea from the start. Too expensive, shows little benefit to the population of the Cayman Islands and is nothing but a pure political stunt aimed at giving Caymanians more hope that the Government isn’t selling them out. Vote em out!
If they cant think for themselves 8.42 your family should still be allowed to choose for themselves, even if they pick Pinocchio for Premier.
Education is key to Caymanians having real jobs, not low paying retails ones, which are likely not held by Caymanians anyway.
Building a dock will not curtail the crime. Currently we have lots of cruise ships passengers, and the downtown is crammed with them, yet crime is still rising.
If you are going to “toe the line”, as a kirkbot, as least use a logical argument.
I hope most politicians are paying attention to the fact that most of the people screaming against the port can’t even vote!
If you want to get elected and especially if you want to STAY elected, you better fight for Caymanian jobs and plenty of us live and work every day because of the cruises.
You couldn’t be more wrong. We can and will vote against stupidity.
Just changed my vote. I thought my only option in GT South was Roy/PPM but sorry, this one screws the pooch. Anything but… Will be grilling my other candidate options the next couple of weeks. Sorry Roy, unless you stand up against it, I cannot vote in confidence for the safe future of these islands… Step up or go down with the sinking ship.
You are really lost, Roy isn’t running in GT South. Good luck figuring out who to vote for.
The only reason we have George town is because of our port. The center for business developed there due to the cargo port and the retail business developed there due to the cruise business. Without the cruise port Camana Bay officially becomes the capital of our country and will not be owned by our people.
What retail business?
Spoken by a true duty free store employee!
Must get this threw so can help
Any port will be owned and operated by the financier, not us.
How does Camana Bay “officially” become the capital? A few office blocks, a cinema and some shops and restaurants does not make a capital. However much Dart may want it to be the case.
Dart is a Caymanian now.
Why do they waste money not knowing victory is assured… Or maybe they know something the voters don’t?
Alden this project alone has sealed the fate of ppm
Vote out of office on PPM on Election Day. Caymanians cannot afford their usual arrogance stubbornness and failure to listen to the majority. They are hell bent on protecting the interests of a select few supporters and merchants.
Money talks and bull#$@! walks!
6.51pm I support the PPM although I do not support the berthing facility. What I do believe in most strongly is integrity, and if you vote for the opposition that goes out the window.
LOL
PPM promised a modern port and they are delivering on that. Just like they are delivering a modern airport. They have my vote.