$2M EIA contract awarded to US engineers

| 03/11/2022 | 89 Comments
Area of planned road extension

(CNS): A US engineering company, Whitman, Requardt & Associates LLP based in Maryland, has won the contract to conduct the environmental impact assessment for the controversial part of the East-West Arterial Extension from Woodland Drive in Bodden Town, through the critical Central Mangrove Wetlands, to Frank Sound in North Side.

The contract, which has been approved by the procurement office, is worth almost $2 million and requires WRA, over the next year and a half, to examine the threat to mangroves and the related wildlife, as well as the risk of flooding created by cutting through this natural area of drainage.

Almost five years ago the Department of Environment produced a screening report for the National Conservation Council which sets out the need for this EIA and the challenges the road presents because it would slice through the Central Mangrove Wetlands (CMW). This would destroy parts of this critical habitat, undermining the eco-services it provides and increasing the flood threat to low-lying residential areas.

“As the ecological heart of Grand Cayman, the CMW is critical to many important natural processes which are vital to the long-term well-being of the residents of the Cayman Islands,” the DoE experts who conducted the screening stated. “It is part of a large scale waterflow system, filtering and conditioning the surface water and shallow ground water which supports the mangrove communities and flows into North Sound.”

The area protects against storms and helps with flood mitigation, shoreline stabilisation and erosion control. It recharges the freshwater lens and sucks out retention sediments and pollutants, and exports organic matter to the North Sound. It helps stabilise local climate conditions, stores carbon and provides nursery grounds and habitat for a variety of marine and terrestrial biodiversity, including species under threat, the DoE warned.

This mangrove habitat has also been designated as an important bird area, supporting more than 80% of the local population of West Indian whistling duck, the endemic Cayman parrot and threatened mangrove species.

DoE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie has also explained previously how important this habitat is to combat sea-level rise. “Our mangroves are laying down peat at the rate that sea level is rising and is estimated to be able to continue until sea level rise rate exceeds about 10cm per year,” she told UNESCO earlier this year.

Over recent months, more concerns emerged about the proposed road. Local activists are worried that extending the road through this area would open up even more opportunities for development, which would spread out from the highway further into the habitat and fragment what is, according to the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, the largest contiguous stretches of mangrove in the Caribbean.

While some of this habitat is protected and more has been nominated for protection, much of the land remains in private hands. There are areas that are partially dry and could be viable for development. And while people are concerned about traffic congestion in the commute from the Eastern Districts, some argue that this extension will do little to address the main cause of Cayman’s traffic woes.

One of the major problems is the bottleneck at Red Bay to Grand Harbour, the narrowest part of Grand Cayman, through which traffic between the Eastern District and George Town must pass.

The EIA process is expected to examine the damage the project will cause to the environment, the extent of flooding potential against the benefit of the road, and what, if any, mitigation measures could be deployed to protect the habitat and prevent flooding. The process begins with the establishment of the terms of reference. These will be decided by the contractors and the Environmental Assessment Board, which will be established by the NCC and chaired by the DoE director.

Once these terms of reference are established, they will be subject to public consultation, including open district meetings, to make sure that all of the issues are properly examined during the assessment. The EIA should include the justification for the road and weigh the impact of further development as a result of building the road, as well as the direct impact of the highway construction and its use once it is complete.


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Category: development, Land Habitat, Local News, Science & Nature

Comments (89)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    $2m for an environmental impact survey huh… Hey Kenneth, a good liable public transport system will reduce traffic on the roads, reduced traffic means less gas used, less air and noise pollution maybe fewer drunk driving accidents all good for the environment and the populace. There, I just saved CIG $1,999,999.50. You’re welcome, put the difference towards education.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Kenneth B. You want to fix the public transportation system?

    1. Make all bus drives paid government employess and not fare collecting individuals.
    2. Give them a route and a schedule that they MUST adhere to regardless of number of passengers on thier bus so it can be reliable to say a bus comes by every 10-15 minutes.
    3. GPS the buses and hold them accountable if they loiter at a stop waiting for passengers instead of keeping the line moving or driving too fast/irradic like the current a-holes we have now.
    4. Have bus passes/card that are pre-paid so you tap a terminal as you get on to save time.
    5. Be able to refil card/passes at gas stations and grocery stores.
    6. Make the routes accessable by posters at the stops including the times and online.
    7. No deviations from the route like they do now where for a few extra bucks they’ll drop you almost to your house 5 minutes off the route.

    Canada, England, the US and many other coutries have good reliable public transport. Take the time and look at them and do something positive for us.

    – One of your constituents.

    • Hubert says:

      Just look at the Bermuda bus system and copy that model. No need to look at Canada, England and the U. S. bus systems.

      So simple really. We can learn from the Bermuda bus experience. I know, I used it every day 10 years ago and it works.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Introduce a monorail system like a Disney going from East End to Town. Have a park and ride parking lit in East End and have the terminal in George Town actually in George Town so people won’t have far to walk to work. Trains leaving on a schedule instead of when full or “when I feel like it” like these buses are operated.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Compulsory buy land behind Hurleys/Grand Harbour/etc to connect to the East-West Arterial going both ways that connects to the LP Hwy via overpasses or whatever so those going to town and go straight from the Eastern and Northern sides of the island instead of bottle necking at Hurleys. The main problem is Hurleys roundabout. All roads either side lead to it.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Problem is in such a small island every Tom,dick and Harry that arrives here is importing a vehicle mostly from japan, Look at the apartment sites, it’s so much vehicles per site they are parked on both sides of the road after filling the planning designated spots. This the first thing needed to address

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  6. N says:

    I’m for the extended road yes, but will also need an overpass for the Grand Harbour area.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Stop making sense, you know that isn’t allowed in Cayman.

    • Anonymous says:

      If people learned how to use a roundabout properly use their indicators properly and they got rid of all the stupid cones that would help a lot. Competent drivers aim to use a roundabout without stopping. Here half the drivers have no clue what’s going on and the other half think it’s a four way stop.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Just build the darn road. Do you see how big east end is, it’s a huge untapped swamp. And this road will have a very small impact on anything of nature.

    lets all inconvenience the people living here, instead of making a highway that allows for easier commuting. For 1% of some swamp. Oh my god, it’s a natural disaster *rolls eyes.

    Hippies. Don’t use your aircon too much, you are straining the grid and making pollution. Well…what happens when all the cars are electric.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Bryan plans to “transform” public transport. https://caymannewsservice.com/2021/05/bryan-plans-to-transform-public-transport/

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    • Anonymous says:

      where is the lol button?

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    • Anonymous says:

      And hicatees might fly.

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    • Chris Johnson says:

      A new bus system yet no legal and properly designed bus stops. A total lack of planning by consecutive governments for the past frothy years. Where on earth does Byran plan to place the new bus stops or will it be the usual stop anywhere syndrome.
      May I suggest the horse comes before the cart.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Public transportation is the answer. Full size buses like in Bermuda. Hundreds of jobs.

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    • Big Bobo In West Bay says:

      6:04, No we are Caymanians, a brilliant people, and we can learn nothing from Bermudians even if they have an excellent bus system and a modern new airport that puts our airport to shame.

      When the new road is built we can get to the massive gridlock at Grand Harbour so much faster.

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    • Hancock says:

      More accidents than jobs.

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    • Hancock says:

      Not before some bus stops.

  10. Anonymous says:

    The Environmental Fund will be unlawfully raided again to pay for this development study.

    Lawlessness in control.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    MPs Chris Saunders, Jonnay Ebanks, Kenneth Bryan, Dwayne Seymour,Isaac Rankine, Julianna O’Connor-Connolly and others are all obligated to their MASTERS try to find a way to open up the wetland areas.

    Even idiots have already identified the traffic problem – too many people.

    Stupid no planning government has further destroyed traffic flow in and around George Town with the expensive blocking of Cardinal Ave.

    The sell out PPM / UDP / PNA / UNITY politicians in and out of Cabinet are still in control – Mac, Alden and Joey run things.

    These sell out politicians have all spoken out supporting the destruction
    of our wetlands, condemned the National Conservation Law, condemned the National Conservation Council, generally never supported anything environmental or Caymanian benefitting.

    This report will be used as a “tool” to destroy our wetlands.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Looking at the projects these people work on, and wondering what useful knowledge or appreciation they might have of local ecology, that’s exactly what I am thinking too.

    • Anonymous says:

      All that the politicians for successive administrations since 1992 have done is a bunch of ‘palavering’ and making promises they never keep. We pay dem too much to not deliver and palaver! Let us pay dem less so we can attract those that have the country at heart and demand district councils so we can hold them accountable to us, WE THE PEOPLE. The sweetheart deals and concessions that harm us long term are ruining our country.

  12. Anonymous says:

    The areas along the arterial that are partially dry and could be viable for development can be made effectively off-limits by making the the arterial into a limited-access highway. Where Interstate 10 in Louisiana traverses the Atchafalaya wetlands, there only two exits in the 18-mile stretch of highway, both to serve already populated areas.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly the solution!

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    • Anonymous says:

      I’ve been suggesting the same thing, but a road built on pylons to minimise impact further. Trouble is nobody listens to the common sense coming from on-island, always wasting public funds on reports like this. The ones from the wrong people (like this) go ahead, the ones from the right people (Miller/Shaw) get ignored/brushed under the rug.

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    • Anonymous says:

      It looks good because it is all piled pillars and water free flowing underneath but to construct it you would have to excavate the entire river bed and all the sediment leaving a massive trench with the same deforestation for a regular road. Basically a long overpass is not possible to do without clearing a huge area that they wouldn’t be able to ever replace or mitigate, let alone know how to build properly with the cronies in charge.

  13. Ivan and Grace says:

    Heather why are you allowing this? That $2m should have been paid to local contractors to help fix the savannah gully. Every time a storm hits Cayman people’s property behind savannah dominoes is flooded with salt water. Why haven’t you done address this since you are now in a position to make a difference?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Thank you for pointing out the importance of proper environmental assessments before areas and roads are developed, to make sure that the areas are suitable for development and the development is in line with known and predicted environmental conditions, much less do not make the situation for pre-existing homes in thr vicinity worse, i.e., that the bypass not redirect floodwater into areas of Bodden Town already subject to flood risk instead of letting it drain into a preserved Central Mangrove Wetland.

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      • Anonymous says:

        She ain’t saying anything, ain’t doing nuttin, just happily picking up garbage, visiting folks and smiling so she can take pictures and post on Facebook wishing everyone a happy birthday. How much you say the salary is for doing all of that is again?

    • Anonymous says:

      Heather who? Is she even still elected ? Haven’t seen her from
      Before election much less after! Never visited my neighborhood not even to beg a vote. I guess she was very confident! I wonder why!

    • Anonymous says:

      Allowing? Heard her Dad dug up Savannah newlands and chuck the fill in the wetlands. if you check it they also Island Paving…the higher up you go the worse it gets jah.

  14. Anonymous says:

    A waste of money at the detriment of the environment and for what? The excuse to alleviate traffic is BS!!! Traffic is backed up at Grand Harbor….end of story!

    Mr. Premier this is a disgrace considering you are the minister for the environment and if you will not stand up and protect what’s left then who will?

    No surprise laws are implement to stop a Caymanian to fish in a marine park to feed his family yet you pay good money to outsiders that don’t know a damn thing about cayman to destroy the environment. Heather where are you? Why are you allowing this to happen in your district?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Pretty ignorant post 5.52.
      The information that the EIA is required to provide is a multi faceted and detailed scientific examination of ALL matters of concern.
      Sitting in your house, on reclaimed land, ignoring the good that this road will achieve makes you socially deaf dumb and blind.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The road is needed (I get stuck in the dauly gridlock too). But what we need to do is explore (as posters here suggest) the solution with the least environmental impact, and then do an EIA on that; rather than just getting an EIA for proposing to clear wetlands for roads and development. This logic is completely skewed in a most unsustainable way. Nobody here seems to have a clue on how to balance impact, needs and budget.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Ignorant? Ok lets see if you recall the expertise on the following:

        1-GMO mosquito research and implementation.
        2- iguana culling
        3- 2 x helicopters
        4- implementation of OfReg.
        5- more round abouts and wider roads

        Tell me if any of the above ever helped solved the problems or issues have been enduring?

        All failures and waste of public funds!!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly!

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    • Anon says:

      taking crap as the traffic dosen’t affect you living in you’re tiny little bubble.

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  15. Me sah says:

    If Dart wanted this road it would not be an issue.
    You try commuting from the eastern districts and see how you feel everyday sitting in traffic for hours. Build the #$% road!

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    • Anonymous says:

      how will this road help???
      will wait for answer.

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      • Anonymous says:

        You will never get an answer so don’t wait on it. Ignorant is as ignorant goes. Those promoting this road have no idea of the destruction and associated hazards that will result and the fact that sitting in traffic from the Red Bay area will still be the issue! Sensible people do not need a 2 mil $ study to understand that.

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    • Anon says:

      100%.it should of been built 5 yrs ago ffs.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yet, these so-called environmentalists seem to forget that this problem is a result of their parents moving to the “Caymens” to live their best life. No they living in developments that was once mangroves. It just blows my mind sometimes to listen to the foolishness.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Build the road yesterday

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  17. Elvis says:

    Lol.

    Money to burn it seems

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  18. Anonymous says:

    The only thing that will alleviate traffic is a bridge from savannah to Caymana Bay.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Totally agree. But good luck with that.

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    • Anonymous says:

      3.20….That’s as stupid as saying that the only way to stop hurricanes , is to refrigerate the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean seas.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Actually it’s not in any way a stupid idea. Bridges exist literally everywhere over water and somehow also seem to be smarter than you.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Agree it’s not stupid, however it is so impractical given the expense ,that it is a suggestion that invites words like ‘stupid’.
          Theory is not what we need .

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          • Anonymous says:

            They give millions away each year for useless projects and people, pretty sure they can scrounge up the cash.

        • Miami Dave says:

          Causeways on very low level and shallow waters. Half the cost of bridges. Visit the Floriduh Keys.

        • Anonymous says:

          If a link from Savannah to Camana Bay was the answer the ferry would have been overcrowded every day when they put it on. Yet it was not. And there are (overcrowded) ferries “literally everywhere over water”. In fact there was so little demand for such a travel link that the ferry shut down quickly. Clearly it is not an a priori smart idea that a travel link (bridge or ferry) from Savannah to a random point half-way up west bay road would somehow alleviate traffic from the eastern districts into George Town.

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          • Anonymous says:

            It didn’t work because there are no proper transport system to ferry to and from Camana Bay. Not many people work in Camana Bay that live in the Eastern districts.

        • Anonymous says:

          Yeah but they’d probably build it like the crappy boardwalk in South Sound, and then when some dumb idiot crashes or a storm comes, oops, start again.

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    • Hubert says:

      3:20, Try causeway not bridge.

  19. Anonymous says:

    Don’t worry- they will get the report telling them it is fine to build the road and nothing wrong with building thousands of structures in the “critical mangrove wetlands” because that is what they want to hear. WATCH THIS SPACE.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    The $2m is the cost of the EIA, not the construction!

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Building this road is a horrible idea. I would have told government that for $1MM

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  22. Anonymous says:

    from the th epoeple who said building more roads is not the answer…..yep, they are building more roads.

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  23. Anonymous says:

    a waste of money for a road not needed. end of story.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Did Mr Dart fix yours?

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    • Anonymous says:

      You clearly don’t spend 9 hours in the office and another 3 stuck in the commute each day. A crash at Hurleys or after Countryside adds another couple of hours more (because there’s only one road, no other way you can go). But I guess as you don’t endure it we don’t need it? We have lives too. This problem has been ignored for over a decade. All they do is build more properties and add more lanes which made it even worse. All roads meet and come to a grinding halt at Hurleys. All of us living this side have NO work/life balance. We just work, eat, collapse every day and try to recover over the weekend.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Thing is you don’t understand that building this road will not alleviate the problem and will still lead into the same bottleneck you’re complaining about. I drive from Rum Point every day too so I fully understand your pain but I also understand that the destruction to a vitally important area of this island will not bring a solution to the horrific traffic issue we suffer daily. What this government should be doing is encouraging businesses to have satellite offices in the eastern districts, have more staggered working hours and allow more people to work from home using IT to properly measure and monitor outputs by each worker.

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  24. Anonymous says:

    Only $2 Million for this project? I would have gladly paid $2M years ago to get this finished. WTF is going on?

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  25. Anonymous says:

    These US companies are literally laughing at us paying them millions every year. Pretty sure they probably have a Whatsapp group called “Cayman Morons” to share and laugh about how much money they make from our public purse

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  26. Anonymous says:

    Wayne promised the road. No road=no vote. This is a waste of money.

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  27. Anonymous says:

    So sounds as if after spending 2 million dollars to tell you what you want to hear even though it is a bad idea a bad the road will be built anyway.? ” the EIA should include the justification for the road and weigh the impact of further development as a result of building the road” If you think iyou are justified already even before the Report then why waste the money to get the assessment done? Sounds to me that it ihas already been decided. Does the Premier AKA Mr, environment Minister in his past life agree with this or is this a favour he owes for them keeping his PACK together?

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  28. Anonymous says:

    Report will be released just in time for election season, then we start the whole cycle of madness again. Typical waste of money.

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  29. Anonymous says:

    Oh gosh! Well I am no scientist but I do have some common sense. Yea, to build a road and development of residential buildings and businesses through the critical mangrove wetlands will adversely effect the environment. Because i am a citizen who passionately care about our Beloved Isles Cayman I am charging you a mere CIS10,000.00 which will just about cover my Cinico insurance for another year. GIna could have told you (I believe she did over and over again) how devasting it will be and you wouldn’t have to pay her one red cent more than her monthly salary. By the time we vote these imbeciles out come next election there will be nothing on our 2×4 Rock except 30 stories apartment buildings here there and everywhere. And we all wondering wha happen? What a legacy to leave behind!!

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  30. Anonymous says:

    2M for a study Which will undoubtedly be shelved/ignored if they don’t like the findings…there must be a warehouse somewhere with millions of dollars of ignored studies sponsored by the public purse.

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  31. Anonymous says:

    You mean to tell me an unemployed Caymanian couldn’t have done this? Or the George Town Revitalization crew, with all their knowledge and experience?

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  32. Anonymous says:

    Why is it a problem for government to build a bridge from Bodden Town to George Town?

    I say NO to the road!

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  33. Anonymous says:

    Will their Trade and Business License and LCCL be dealt with any time within the next year, and will their permits be processed, or do they enjoy a usual magic exemption from various laws?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Good questions. Let’s see if DCI looks into this issue.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Of course they won’t. They never do. Impossible anyway after their overt condoning of all the illegal activity on public beach. Unlicensed trading/sale of alcohol/ganja/food/no permits/no pensions/no health insurance. All just up from the Governors’s House and in full view of High Net Worth tourists invited to the gem of the Caribbean. Damn them. Damn them all. This is what a descent into the third world looks like. Corruption so intertwined with ineptitude that language fails. Franzies all ‘round.

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        • Anonymous says:

          They’re using the same tactics as police to keep up the appearance of enforcement with the easy pickings.

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