Miller: Cruise bid going very wrong
Tourists returning to their cruise ship by tender boat
(CNS): Opposition Leader Ezzard Miller intends to press his concerns about the failure of government to follow the necessary laws and procedures surrounding the cruise port tendering process with official bodies as well as speak out about the problems in the media. Miller told CNS that the “evidence indicates something has gone very wrong” with this bid and the government’s lack of transparency and confusion is fuelling more concerns for him as the opposition leader and in his role as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
Miller said he will be seeking support from the PAC members to ask the auditor general if she would consider stepping into the process at an earlier point than would be usual.
He said he would also be writing to the Public Procurement Committee about the bidding process and is considering a complaint to the Anti-Corruption Commission, as he weighs his options to try to shed light on what believes is an increasingly troublesome tender.
Over and above his belief that the controversial project is unnecessary, uncertain and unpopular, he is very concerned about the way government has approached the bidding process, and in particular the financing aspect. Miller believes that government is misleading the public with its claims that the public purse will not be footing the bill for a project that will cost at least $250 million and possibly much more.
“I want government to tell us what is the difference between a loan and rebatement through fees,” he said, pointing out that government’s side financing deals with the cruise lines will apparently be paid from the $12 per head passenger fees, which currently helps subsidise the general running of the port.
Miller said that if the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands loses that income, it will be forced to find the money elsewhere. But the only remaining option will be increasing cargo fees, which will in turn fuel the already runaway cost of living for local people, “while the cruise ships sail off with all the money”.
The issue of financing is at the heart of Miller’s concerns surrounding the tender. “Either this bid is about 100% financing or it is not,” he said, and since government has already admitted to making side deals with two cruise lines and is now involved in talks with at least another four, it is obviously not.
But according to government claims and the tendering promotion, it is still a design, build and 100% finance tender. “So what is government telling the current bidders?” he asked.
Based on what he has learned over the last few weeks, Miller believes government is seeking contributions for a number of cruise companies that call on the Cayman Islands. Whatever that total amount is, the bidders will need to be directed on that basis, he said.
And, he wants to know, if the cruise lines are to be paid back through passenger taxes, how will the actual developers be paid back for their costs?
The existing side deal with Carnival and Royal Caribbean, Miller said presents additional conflicts because these two cruise lines are understood to be involved in an actual tender process, compounded by the fact that their representatives appeared on stage with government members at a public meeting to promote the project last September.
Miller said that as well as speaking out about this and helping with the Cruise Port Referendum campaign, another option to remedy the situation is to try to seek early intervention into the process by the PAC, especially regarding the financing model. He said that the committee has been looking for ways to move from oversight of government spending only after the fact to begin their oversight of projects before things go wrong.
He pointed to the intervention in the airport redevelopment, which, although it was “intercepted by the powers in government”, was now at least in the public domain. He said it supported concerns that the tourism ministry had been misleading the public about the progress of that project and the true overruns in costs and time delays.
This time Miller wants to find a way to intervene before it’s too late, he said. While it is questionable whether this massive project will ever becoming a reality, if it does, it is critical that the many potential problems with costs and conflicts are addressed long before it starts, the opposition leader stressed.
Category: development, Government Finance, Government oversight, Local News, Politics
Is it not amazing that at the TOP of the statistics published by the Caribbean Tourism Association, just this week, show that the two leading ports, in terms of increases in cruise touris, during 2018, were Belize and the Cayman Islands.
NEITHER OF WHICH HAVE CRUISE BERTHING but instead rely on tendering to land all cruise tourists.
I submit to you that as soon as one cruise line gets control of our port, through financing it, the first thing that will happen is that other cruise lines will have limited space availability and the one doing the financing will contractually tie up berthing spaces, even when they have no ships visiting.
The reason that Cayman and Belize were the only places that could react to and accommodate displaced cruise ships from hurricane hit areas, is because they both utilize the tendering process and ships forced to come here due to an act of God, can simply some by and drop anchor and be serviced by the tenders.
Cayman needs to drop this idea of expensive cruise piers and get to setting higher standards for our tenders that will ensure we have the best tendering service in the world.
Of utmost importance during the past 10 years, is that Government build a proper departure lounge, with attendant air conditioning, duty free shopping and customs and immigration services in George Town, one in Spotts and one in West Bay.
This multiple landing zones not only allow disembarkation in almost any weather, but has the added benefit of moving millions of people each year out of central George Town, who only come ashore to catch transportation to West Bay or the Eastern districts. Passengers who want to duty free shop in George Town would still disembark in George Town, as they do now, except that it will be a more pleasant experience for them with less crowds.
This kind of distribution of cruise passengers would have the added benefit of reducing traffic on West Bay road from transportation buses and taxis taking people into West Bay to make North Sound trips.
Oh yes, NONE of these three locations would require one cubic yard of dredging in order to accommodate these improved and larger tenders.
WaYaSay
Well I guess for all of these negative comments against Ezzard, he must be poking the right bush. I don’t know why people are attacking him personally , he from what I can see is trying to get the people of this country the truth/facts. Okay…. you don’t like the man for whatever reason so be it, but lets be fair, don’t everyone in this country be it Native or New resident, deserve to be told the truth? Why is it that governments all around the world treat the people that elected them as dumb/stupid people. Unless that’s they way they the ” Elected” look at us. Food for though
Thank God for Ezzard; if only we had about 10 more like him. Nothing has changed since back in September when I posted this:
“The minister stated that the design-build-finance model that government was pursuing would not cost the public purse anything. He said that it was a typical type of financing model for a public-private partnership used to fund large-scale infrastructure projects but it also ensured that the people of Cayman would still manage the facility, to protect jobs, and would eventually be the owners.”
Does the Minister really expect Caymanians with any common sense at all to believe that this project “would not cost the public purse anything” but “the people of Cayman would . . . . eventually be the owners”. Really Minister? It isn’t even December; have you turned Santa Claus in August?
We understand that you’re not proposing to take out a loan to build it which will then have to be paid back. Those loan payments would be seen by accountants as a cost. But have a little respect for the people that you represent – tell them that someone else will use their money to build it AND you will have to agree to let the revenues that you would have collected go to them until they recoup their money with whatever profit they are looking to earn. That is how public-private partnerships work. So of course, it is costing the public; it’s costing them the revenue that they would have otherwise have collected. And no; they couldn’t have spent all of that revenue; they would have had to use some of it to repay the loan had you gone that route.
Just stop telling the public falsehoods and show enough respect to explain how it will work. No one gets anything for free!
Btw, Donald Trump promised a great wall and that it wouldn’t cost the US public purse anything too because Mexico would pay for it. You know who’s paying for it now? It ain’t Mexico; it’s the public purse . . right Moses?
Im tired of reading all this BS. All people want to do is complain about everything. I bet if someone planned a demonstration in front of the Admin Bld. you couldnt get 25 people to show up. So take what you get!
You realize most people have jobs, and families and lives.. right?
Not every issue requires protests in the streets in fact I would argue disruptive public protests should be a last resort
We have the referendum clause of the constitution specifically so people can get their will without the messiness of public marches
Lets close the airport and go back to seaplanes landing in North Sound. Those who have lived long enough will remember that controversy.
Do tell, don’t leave us hanging
*popping the Orville’s..
Old-timer: no comparison!
One of the things that keeps popping out at me whenever I read these stories is that the successful bidder will be responsible for the maintenance of the dock — wow, nice plumb job dropped right into their laps — for how many years? The next 25 years?
Should that not be a separate bid? Really now. I think there will be a lot of potential problems with even this little part.
Let’s go back to landing them on Queen’s Highway, or are we not meant to talk about that?
Worldwide we had three cruise ships in four years striking piers, demolishing them. Navigating these behemoths against these piers is obviously a very delicate operation.
The insurance fees on the new piers will be astronomical — not to mention regarding the potential loss of life.
4:05 Good point. Check out – http://crew-center.com/cruise-ship-hits-key-west-pier-damage-estimated-half-million-dollars
And note that the facility was put out of action for about three months by the incident.
This is very similar to the arguments about jet bridges at ORIA – they’re a great idea until something goes wrong but when it does you’re well and truly stuffed.
Thanks, 8:08 am: did not know about this one. So it is four cruise docking accidents in four years, now.
I don’t know but if I were the Government I would not sleep well at night worrying about this possibility.
I remember the Rhapsody running aground off Seven Mike Beach in the 80s. Was marooned here for weeks if not months awaiting a suitable tug to move it. It was surrounded by booms guarding against the threat of oil spilling and damaging the environment.
Don’t do it! Don’t build the pier. Very risky business.
Remember too this is not just a dock for cruise ships but will also be used for cargo vessels.
A severe enough accident and our food supply, for one, could be cut off for weeks if not months.
This is the largest ever investment by We the People. In case you forgot, the government is there to act on our behalf, following the proper sharing of information and debating of the issues.
Let the government get out there and explain the issues that are being raised.
Then we can get a proper set of pros and cons and then can better judge whether this is a good thing or not. Is this not what we all do when we are contemplating a purchase — discuss within the family and examine very carefully the downside? Every single purchase has a downside.
Otherwise, there will be as there often is a lot of buyer’s remorse.
Why is the government afraid to get out there and join in the debate? It is their duty. This is why they were elected.
The obvious fallacy is that the Referendum isn’t a choice of cruise or no cruise. It is a vote for or against good democratic governance and transparency. Jim Bodden wouldn’t like what Cayman has become right now.
Miller wouldn’t know proper protocol if it hit him in the face. He was on the radio the other day and admitted to driving 70 mph on a 30 mph zone chasing a garbage truck and no tickets were filed even though it was a public admission. Double standards for the Opposition.
That red herring cooked enough for ya?
If he made a public arrest for a speeding garbage truck then good for him. I do not always agree with his views but at least he gets things done unlike Big Mac and the others that set the islands back years.
By checking the thumbs up in the blogs below he certainly has more support than the government.
The thumbs in the blogs are almost as meaningless as the Bible.
Then of course you do not have a problem with having 20 thumbs down?
For an accomplisher of nothing, he sure knows a lot about those who accomplish.
it is so sad that there does not seem to be enough of the old time knowledgeable seamen left that would be willing and able to speak up and talk some sense into Alden’s head. Even lay people can see the dangers of what will happen if this mega port goes through in Hog Sty Bay.
1:04 Perhaps Alden will care when the UK and Trump get involved in the financial shenanigans going on here.
By the way, does EE have an MLA?
It’s a bit like going tile, or carpet shopping, without knowing where you are going to live, whether you’ll need these things at all, or the square footage you’ll need for the job. The only “negotiators” that disregard need, quality, and quantity inputs on a bid selection of undetermined terms, are those looking to establish the vendors willing to kick back the most on the total contract value. It must be the most important variable if everything else is secondary – to be figured out later. In that regard, we have a “dream team” committee of seasoned “experts” in this field, leading what seems to be the biggest and murkiest public-private negotiation/heist for generations, and our good governance referees are just shrugging their shoulders and letting it happen.
Ezzard Miller? Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Fundamentally: why would we put a construction tender out for bidding before the business case, enviro, engineering, geo, and concept design have been discussed, and approved in some way? This is absolutely mad to proceed directly to the final stage, skipping over the earlier stages, as if they don’t matter!
The obvious facts are simple.
The people with the little boats want no Piers
The business owners in GT want Piers.
Cruise passengers should have the options to be able to walk off the ship.
And not be forced to go in those little boats.
Cayman is small enough that the dots can be connected to know who is for support and who is against.
When the foolish idea about strings across the water to the ships was around, the engineer that fantasize that idea from a foreign company did not see anything wrong with some sort of port. But the minute it was rejected, then all of a sudden , Cayman does not need a port.
Mr. Miller makes a lot of sense by compare the Airport project and how easy the Government can be ripped off. But to reject the port out right is not a good idea.
Please Mr. Miller turn your attention and simply tell the Government, if there will be a new Port it has to be done properly. So this way it is not a fight against progress, but a fight to get the best deal.
In the end. This is all a show and uncle Dart will be doing the new port anyhow.
So let’s sit back, relax, get the big bucket of popcorns. Shucks, wonder who owns the popcorns now? You get the drift. That’s for anada day.
It’s not an “if” thing its a “when” thing.
9:33 You should check out some of the videos on YouTube. It looks to me like many cruise passengers view the tendering process as an attraction, part of the whole Grand Cayman experience. Isn’t there a real danger that if that’s taken away we’ll become just another same old, same old cruise stopover?
9:33 When I cruise I do not like to walk on the long Piers inundated with beggars, prostitutes, drunks, addicts, etc.
The refueiling smell is a turnoff as well at the ports the Cruise Ships refuel at.
The views from the ships are usually of a shipyard with lots of containers, lots of noise 24/7, too.
This Pier Project is an obvious scam.
Unlawful is it not, to withhold pertinent information?
~ some folks just do not know the Lord.
Nor care to.
Miller is the only person in Government talking any real sense these days. How can the public support the port when so little is known and being kept secret? Would you buy a house based on drawings and not knowing what it would cost you, who would be building it and how you would be able to pay back the mortgage?
The point is there is not enough information out there to even begin to answer whether or not this is a good deal. I’m not for just rolling the dice and hoping this works out. We are talking about the destruction of marine environment and hundreds of millions of dollars that are going to be owed one way or another. Just to give the cruise ships even more leverage over us than they already have?
I say screw em’. The ships don’t give the boon to the economy that we get from simply flying people in. They will still come to this island even if we don’t build this monstrosity in GT. I’m actually for improving the port but not to destroy marine environment, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and causing a huge eyesore in town for the sake of tourists that spend no more than $100 each while on island.
Miller wouldn’t know sense if it bit him in the ass
And the current coalition govt do???
Love how the trolls just post negative and derogatory comments instead of firing back with facts and coherent thought. Just makes him seem even more intelligent and sound minded.
Miller is right. When we are mere mushrooms. The government feeds us bullshit and keeps us in the dark. When the whole world demands transparency what do we get? Zilch.
Chris, you have the untouchable cachet to sign your name and lead, and are a registered voter in WBS. It would be great if you would organize voter petitions for investigation of CIFA, enactment of SIPL law, or reform of constitution…you can use your standing to challenge the political status quo without sitting in the LA.
Ha that is interesting. I am happy to keep investigating and reporting my findings to all. Unfortunately I am a bit over the hill to take it much further.
In particularly I will continue my pressure on the powers that be to further investigate my findings of corruption on the CIFA football pitch at Newlands. They have had my file for over two years now. Any time I will publish it on CNS as the Compass said it was not of interest! As I keep saying three accounting firms missed the fraud.
It is of course astonishing that CIFA has not called an annual general meeting for years nor presented financial statements for four years. Moreover the government registered CIFA as a charity. How daft can you get.
I continue to fight corruption in Cayman at all levels but the enforcement divisions are largely not interested in hearing from me. It is just too much bother for them.
Believe you me there is serious nepotism and corruption here but no one wants to talk to me. Thus it will continue and get worse. Not much I can do.
Thumbs down keep up your usual apathy.
Non Illegitimae carborundum
This PPM led government of national Unity cannot be trusted.
Not a single one of them can be trusted they will bankrupt the country morally, financially and have distain for the views of the majority. They were created to serve special interests like dart and a handful of businesses. The cruise piers are just one example of special interests being the priority instead of education and jobs for Caymanians.
The continued mismanagement of this project and the Cayman’s will cost all tax payers and businesses in the end.
7:37 Isn’t bankrupting the Country so Dart can own it the plan?
Poor fella can’t even fix the problems in lil ol North Side and he worried about things he don’t understand in the slightest.
I disagree completely, Ezzard Miller understands only too well which is why he gets trolled in these forums in a weak attempt to discredit him.
The fundamental premises for building the cruise dock have been proven false and that is a simple fact. Massive numbers of cruise ship visitors came to Cayman last year. The government acts like this pier will be free. Only a child would believe a 400+ million project will not cost the country anything.
I don’t support the piers either but I can assure you that Ezzard Miller will end up costing this country a whole hell of a lot more than they will should he have his way.
He is at least trying to save us from the Chinese and their local cohorts.
7:18 am: funny you should say that–As a North Sider, I can tell you he is about the only MLA who is doing anything in his district.
Some of the issues are very difficult and on some he gets a lot of push back from government who should be only too happy to lend the resources, as he is actually doing their work, but he perseveres and gets things done.
I am proud and thankful that he represents us.
Miller always putting his people and country first. Really sad to see the rest of of the elected officials not doing the same. XXXXX
6:29 if you was planning to be the next PREMIER you would do the same.
Yes I would do the same. I would also close immigration department on the first day and cancel 1/2 of the work permits. Open trades schools and adult training centers.
And that just a start. Thanks for asking.
Re 6.29am CNS I am disappointed that you saw fit to publish this comment, the language is not acceptable to the public at large.
CNS: Sorry, I just missed it – in too much of a hurry.
Some people cant handle the truth CNS.. thank you .
Really Ezzard? What makes us so special that we expect to get something for nothing? No such thing as a free lunch, my friend. Once we pay for it it is ours. Stop trying to mislead the public that the cruise lines are sailing away with the money when they are in fact financing the building of the new cargo port and piers.
How are we getting something for nothing when the money is being repaid through the port fees rebates, which in other words is coming from government income. So the public purse loses income, which usually in turn means we pay more duties and fees to make up the shortfall. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. You are being duped dude.
6:27 am: Do you realize how long we will be paying for the port? Not sure where this figure is coming from, but I have been hearing 25 years!!! And by the way, that means that the funds that come in from the cargo ships and cruise ships will no longer be available to support the work of those areas for years and years and years.
The next question is, how long before this dock becomes obsolete or even worn out?
By the time we “own” it, it may not be worth with owning!
Smithy, I think Ezzard would agree with you entirely on that point — there is no free lunch. That is what he and a lot of others are worried about.
By the way, Smithy, do you see how you contract the idea of no free lunch: “Stop trying to mislead the public that the cruise lines are sailing away with the money when they are in fact financing the building of the new cargo port and piers.”
No free lunch, Smithy. They ain’t doing nothing for free. You and I will be paying, and paying, and paying.
Mr. Miller is desperately seeking relevance as is typical of a sour grapes back bencher. The fact that Government is not bothering to defend itself about his continuous headline seeking and fear mongering accusations could well be an indication that the project is moving along well. “Keep you powder dry” as the old saying goes. Let him talk.
Or the government can not answer
5:10 am, 29/02: If Miller had inaccuracies, the govt would be correcting it. They are not. The only response has been that they had announced the involvement of two cruise lines end of last year and that they were included in the RFT (request for tender).
But they have remained mum on the heart of Miller’s contention—continuing negotiations with four more cruise lines since the issue of the RFT. Not a word on that in their press statement.
Miller also alleged that some of the cruise lines are parties to the bidding.
This project continues to raise serious questions , just as it did at the start many years ago! Congratulations to Izzard for raising yet another issue.
The project fails at so many levels, its a disaster for ecological reasons, it makes no commercial sense, we get more cruise visitors than we can handle without it, and now questions on the rationale for the finance package.
But, the biggest question of all is WHY do successive “Leaders” continue to press for a project that doesn’t even satisfy the basic issue of what is best for the Island? And WHY have successive governments not told the whole story, see the issue above about the “contractor”.
It would be tempting for those of us asking questions to wonder if there are things that those governments want to hide, we know that one potential contractor has a very unsavoury reputation, could there be illicit behind the scenes activity taking place?
These are questions that it is reasonable to ask, and require answers, but I bet none are forthcoming.
There is one way of calming those of us that have these questions, do it ALL by the book, follow ALL the protocols on public spending, and yes, why not involve the Auditor at each stage, and most of all, keep the doubting public informed!
And finally, when all of that happens we can be sure that a snowball WILL survive in hell!
So instead of borrowing we are going to let the cruise companies collect fees from the facilities for a period of upwards of 20 years what happens when these islands are hit by one or more major Hurricanes during the multiple year process of construction and before we own the facilities ourselves and tourism dips off dramatically like we see after every natural disaster (including the Hurricanes that hit the eastern Caribbean in 2017 with Irma and Maria both causing massive amounts of damage across the Caribbean
Will the Cruise ship lines just accept their losses and move on when the fees are lower due to a hurricane
The economic effects of natural disasters last years, even after recovery is complete what is the plan for unforeseen dips
12:05 what about if the world come to an end tomorrow!
You got a few months yet.
8:17 am: I would be willing to wager that the the world would not come to an end tomorrow, but I think the chances of our NOT being hit by hurricane at any given hurricane season is not something I would want to bet on.
Construction cost payback at current landing rate is 50+ years assuming that portion stays at $200mln. Doesn’t cover insurance costs, tug boats/crews, ongoing dock/dredge maint, running costs, security, and labour…and we’ll still need tender infrastructure for Spotts.
From the man who wanted to build a hospital in the swamp. Not saying that the port bidding process has been done correctly but Miller is the last one to follow.
Camana Bay was a mangrove swamp only 20+ years ago.
10:13 pm: Camana Bay is built on the swamp — my apartment is built on the swamp — the Ritz is built on a swamp.
And your point is?
10:13 pm, don’t you know why water settle there, its because it has rock bottom, dig out the marl and there is a good solid foundation to build on, just think a little, if you can.
Swamp describes most of Cayman prior to development
Drainage, developments and filling in have changed the landscape
Mr. Miller the auditor general will arrange the midnight train home to the Brac for the chosen ones. Praise and glory the carnival miracle is comin.
What rational person can have confidence in the government’s ability to actually make this work?
The answer is to have the project construction company do the Environmental Impact Assessment.
Now doesn’t that sound like a recipe for disaster?
No motivation to pad that EIA report.
Also I want to sell you a bridge to the Brac.
Has anyone reached out to the other cruise lines for their comment on this? Will they now be considered second rate visitors as the carriers funding (partial or fully) the piers will obviously get priority. Will the more desirable higher end lines decide to reduce visits for a, the reason above, and b, not wanting to subject their higher end, higher paying, more lucrative to Cayman visitors to the mess that George Town will soon become?
Having recently visited another Caribbean port where the piers dump directly onto the main street of town turning it into a chaotic scene of heckling taxis, vendors and beggars, I shudder at what we will become in a few short years. I was a stayover visitor on that island and after one brief visit into town, decided not to go back. The experience was awful and would be the death knell for high end tourism.
I will note that in the few days I was there I did not see any high end ships come in. It was all over-bloated behemoths of the seas. And listening to the comments of the tourists as I did wander around it was clear that few were spending more than the minimum to buy another tacky mug or bottle opener identical to those sold throughout the region, only the name imprint was changed.
Is this what we want?
And as for the argument that this will lead to a revitalization of George Town, I call bullsh!t. Those same streets heaving with over-fed, newly-wed and nearly-dead cattle roaming aimlessly from shop to shop became a dead-zone where even crickets failed to venture.
As a stay over tourist without a rental car, as soon as the town shut down, there was nothing to do, with the finest dining available after 6pm being a toss up between Dunkin Donuts and McDonands…
Wake up Cayman. The pier has now become a personal agenda for the members of government. They are blinded by a combination of greed, ego and the blinders placed over their eyes by the parties that really think they will win out of this. They have shut down any possibility of listening to reason and are going to stubbornly and pig-headedly drive Cayman into uncharted territory from both the tourism aspect but also the environmental side. And in the case of the latter, the action being taken cannot be undone and the ignorance and egos of those leading the charge is astounding.
Trust me when I say, if things do go completely down the crapper, as I fully expect this will, they will shrug their shoulders, point a few fingers, blame non-existant EIAs end other professional reports, dust off their armani suits and head back to the trough for the next project.
9:51 this will not be the first country to have proper docking facility!
Or the last
Might well be the last.
Miami and Fort Lauderdale haven’t built the “home base” terminals for these as-yet fictional super liners, never planned to ply our waters. The public company reports for CCL, RCL, NCL are on Edgar.
9:51 In answer to to your initial question it looks to me like nobody has reached out to any of the cruise lines for comment. It makes you wonder what all the journalists on these islands are doing because that would be my first move. Both Carnival and RCCL have large, well-staffed press offices and all the contact details are on their websites.
As for your point on dumping cruise shippers into the main street of a town I’ll offer an interesting story on that. In 2004 I was in Turks and Caicos and flew out of Grand Turk with a senior member of the previous government there. He told me they’d tried to get the cruise dock built right in Cockburn Town dropping visitors straight onto Front Street. Public reaction had been very simple – his government was kicked out in the next election. I haven’t been back since the resort opened but I saw the dock being built (it’s well out of the town and away from the stayover areas) and it seems to be working well.
Cayman Islands needs a revolution and this is the pathway to it. Keep the public in the dark for now because it won’t last very much longer. This is exactly the kind of governance that leads to people revolting. I got my popcorn ready and I can’t complain. Keep up the work because instead of dividing our country it is banding together as we all witness the real patriots come forward while the snakes continue to slither among us.
Ezzard Miller is again poking holes in the BS story peddled by Moses Kirkconnell and Alden McLaughlin. The questions being asked by Miller must be addressed by the Minister of Tourism and Unity Cabinet members. None of their story adds up the public purse and tax payers will be forced to make up the short fall in CIG revenue.
This is basic maths and no spin or PR consultants can change the reality this cruise port will be Cayman’s biggest white elephant project. It will make Premier McLaughlin’s Clifton Hunter High School look like a great deal at $110million for a high school which still produces a majority of substandard graduates.
Where is the Auditor General’s Office and why isn’t this being investigated immediately? The Governor’s Office cannot sir by and watch this happen if they are serious about Good Governance and Transparency.
You bunch of whiners; CHEC and Dart are going to do the project. Has anyone ever stopped Dart at all? Just keep your mouths shut and follow along, everything will be all right. Look at how Mr. Dart has made this island great.
“Just keep your mouths shut”
The fate of this project has been sealed. Caymanians keeping their mouth shut only adds another layer of protection.
I am made to understand that the 25 story building height announcement will be made this week. That should give you all something to talk about as that will show you who is really in charge. Certain people get whatever they want regardless of which Government is in power.
What about Mac’s 50 storey nightmare?
Miller is way off base on this and doesn’t care to learn anything about the positive impact that the dock will have.
if Miller don’t oppose, he will not be paid!
And Ezzard needs money for his next campaign
Shouldn’t waste it.
I agree with Miller here completely!
Why would any sane person blindly accept “the cost” of the proposed project (in every sense of that word) without understanding anything about the obscured inputs that matter? Leaving crippling decisions to school leavers is not what adults should do. So we’re clear, “the cost” is not at all restricted to whomever is privately suggesting, in a back-room environment, that they may or may not pay for some or all of initial construction.
The PwC report which hypothecated “benefit” on the assumption there would be ships with capacity that don’t exist in reality, and aren’t on even the intermediate build time horizon. We don’t even know if the pilings can be secured into what the 2015 Baird EIA report classified as “cavernous fractured limestone” – and that’s before lateral blue water Nor’Wester force is applied. Who’s going to insure this thing? Who’s paying for that? Who’s paying for the maintenance dredging and repairs? What does the dive industry do when the West wall is inundated with “sponge and coral suffocating particulate”, or our SMB hotels to guests when our famous crystal clear waters turn to milk, and the fish start washing up on the sand? Who pays for that?
So much misplaced blind faith for a regime that can’t even keep two parking machines working at the airport.
I dont as all he is looking for is political points
Aren’t they all?
No, he is doing job as honestly and fairly as possible within the bounds and rules of his position.. you know, the things that the rest of them have no clue about or seem to ignore?