Cabinet urged to release cruise project info
(CNS): The campaigners who successfully petitioned to trigger a people-initiated referendum on the issue of government’s proposed cruise berthing facility have once again put pen to paper urging the Cayman Islands’ leadership to release the missing information on the project as soon as possible. After writing four times to Premier Alden McLaughlin seeking answers to numerous questions but receiving no response, the activists have now written to all of the Cabinet ministers for the relevant information.
Following the formal submission of 5,305 signatures from registered voters to Cabinet Wednesday, which met the constitutional requirement for a people’s vote of 25% of the electorate, the campaigners are calling on all ministers to make “full disclosure of all pertinent information on the proposed cruise berthing facility before the referendum”.
The activists are concerned that as the campaign for the referendum gets underway, voters will not get access to the right information to help them make an informed decision. The CPR group is also urging government to ensure fairness and equity in the process, including when the referendum will be held and the drafting of the question.
A major source of concern at present is that numerous reports and crucial information about the project have still not been released, even though government announced its preferred bidder and winning design over seven weeks ago.
The campaigners said the public needs to see the revised cruise berthing and cargo port design showing the numerical data to quantify the footprint, including the dredge area, concrete area and location relative to the surrounding marine ecosystems, as well as more details on the pilings.
They have also asked government to release the final updated business case report, including the projections for passenger arrivals and the details and conditions in the drafted contract with the Verdant Isle group, which won the bid.
The environmental issues regarding this project remain at the top of the list of concerns for many voters, and the campaigners are urging government to release the results of any geo-technical studies that have been done so far, the updated environmental impact assessment and any other studies relating to the threats posed by the project to the local marine habitat.
Where these are not yet completed, the activists said, government needs to provide a timeline of when the public will get to see these critically important documents.
CPR has also asked government to state its position on the recent concerns raised by the scientists at the CCMI, which have added to the environmental concerns. The coral experts warned that the project poses a threat to Seven Mile Beach and pointed out that the relocation of the coral under threat in George Town Harbour as a result of the project will be all but impossible.
Given the need to protect the interest of the public purse from penalties and potential lawsuits for breach of contract, the campaigners said they also want to see the force majeure clauses that benefit Verdant Isle and financiers of the project.
The campaigners said the government needs to reveal the details of what will happen in the event of a decline in cruise passenger arrivals over the 25-year term of the public-private partnership and loan facility, a global recession, or a hurricane or other natural disaster.
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Category: development, Local News, Politics
Build the dock.
There’s a certain irony, at least on the surface, that those concerned about SMB are not those that live on SMB or even have much access to it at all. The public have been systematically removed from Seven mile Beach, still today public access signs are missing and access paths overgrown deliberately by condo owners. We’ve even seen Dart allowed to merge accessways in total contravention of norms so they can build yet another mega project on the beach that’s not tailored for locals. No, those defending SMB from likely irreversible erosion are those that have already been kicked off SMB by 30 years of corruption, failure to plan long term, disinterest in the welfare of the majority of residents access to one of the worlds greatest beaches and so forth.
and yet, there we have it, those seeking to protect SMB are the ones with very little access to it now and even less in future.
somethings wrong in Cayman, very, very wrong.
I don’t live on 7mb but we go every weekend with the kids, no problem, not sure why you find it so hard?
I’m Caymanian and I live on SMB. Every Saturday I take long walks on SMB from one end to the other. My family and I spend all Sunday afternoon on SMB. No problem.
Gov will not make anything public. Too many back deals for them to hide
Most people realize that the normal sand movement along 7 mile beach will be effected by the dredging of a big hole off George Town to accommodate the cruise ships.
That does not seem to include the CI Government pushing this project forward.
“affected”?
What exactly does CIG have to hide? The request from CPR is straightforward and needs to be shared publicly in order to inform all voters prior to Referendum day
“What exactly does CIG have to hide?” How about how much THEY get if their plan works out!
Government needs to explain to the Caymanian people, the cruise lines, the stayover visitors and the condo owners, what they intend to do if the dredging in George Town takes place, cruise berths are built then we start to lose sand off 7 Mile Beach.
Sand? We won’t be able to visually measure what we are loosing, because of the miles of suspended particulate in the water, turning it to milk, and beachgoers will retreat from all the dead fish that lap up on what was formerly one of the best beaches in the world. But don’t worry, the piers won’t cost us anything!
“losing”? The original poster got it right and you must have read the post to even comment, so why did you spell it wrong?
When adults cannot master their own language, what hope is there for the children?
English is a language that pervades the entire world. I beseech us all to use it right.
There are spell checkers and even grammar checkers these days.
If this is not important, then why send our kids to school and why bother having an English exam?
Please do not confuse lose and loose. It becomes contagious.
Sorry about the rant.
CPR need to put together their own “total cost” assessment report that follows the template of the Equator Principles (v.EPIII). Not just looking at the build phase in myopic isolation. We need to look at the entire lifetime cost, including: irreversible unintended costs to marine habitat, resident, and stay-over living quality, and provisions for structural decommissioning at the end of the project’s life (typically secured with a decommissioning bond). Unless we are looking at the whole picture, we aren’t getting any realistic handle on what this actually “costs” the Cayman Islands, whether we contribute a dime or not. It’s time we got some adults in the room on all of this.