Cargo dock plans account for 250k population by 2074
(CNS): At the first of two public meetings about the various options for a new cargo dock for Grand Cayman, it was clear that many of the members of the public who attended were not on the same page as the government representatives and consultants who presented the case, the difference being the assumption that the new dock was needed at all.
The case for the new dock relies on the belief that the population of the island will continue to grow for at least the next 50 years. The consultants adopted the population projections calculated by the National Roads Authority, which assumes a 2% annual growth to the year 2074, reaching a total of 250,000, which is thought to be a plateau.
However, these figures were greeted with dismay by many attendees, who applauded those who took to the microphone to ask how the island could possibly cope with so many people when it is struggling with the current population and question the proposed environmental destruction based on an assumption that could be erroneous.
“The population is the crux of the matter,” Dr Virginia Hobday, a resident of Breakers, told the panel. “Before you start looking at your ports, you’d better start looking at your roads, you’d better start looking at your schools, you’d better start looking at a whole bunch of things before you just say we’re going to have 250,000 people here.”
She said her house looked down to Pease Bay, which is “pristine,” and described her feelings at the prospect that it could be destroyed as “emotional”.
“I would just ask you to consider this very seriously… You can decide you want to have a population of 250,000. You can control that population if you want. So you don’t really have to design for this, even if you have tourism.”
Hobday continued, “You need to take a step back, look at your other infrastructure and stop destroying the natural habitat. The massive impact on the marine [environment] there, it will never recover and it will never be the same. So, don’t destroy a new place. Try and build on what you already have… Over the next five years, have a serious conversation about population growth and about infrastructure.”
Nicholas Foster, a young Caymanian fishing guide, talked about the three options the consultants had looked at in the Breakers area (Options 8, 9 and 10). He said the area “that you call ‘reclaimed land’ — that is barrier reef”. Noting the abundant marine life found there, he said that building a dock in that area was “a terrible, terrible idea”.
He said it would not only affect the wildlife there but would also open up the south coast and compromise the barrier reef. “These guys may not be concerned,” he said, indicating towards Tourism and Ports Minister Kenneth Bryan, “but 50% of my trips are done there.”
Well-known photographer and conservation advocate Courtney Platt said, “We talk as though there is no way we can limit our population growth. To me, the single most important thing we should be doing… before considering this type of infrastructure expansion is control our growth in pace with our infrastructure. That’s really the main issue I see for all of our woes.”
Platt, who had campaigned against the cruise dock in the George Town Harbour, said that expanding the existing dock there “would be far less damaging to the environment than proceeding with this plan on the south coast that [would be] hugely, enormously, a bigger environmental disaster for us”.
He said the reefs around the Cayman Islands, which have been overfished, “desperately” need to be restored so that Caymanians can continue to fish. “A day may come when ‘it’ hits the fan and cargo ceases to come in for some reason… and we’ll need a strategic food reserve.”
Peter Schmid also questioned the assumptions made about population growth. He said the economy of the Cayman Islands would have to change for the population to keep growing as the consultants suggested. He believed the local tourism product was finite and had trouble imagining an economy here that would sustain 250,000 people.
A young Caymanian said she was concerned about the state of democracy in the Cayman Islands and asked for a longer consultation period and an extended deadline for the survey. She also suggested they conduct focus groups, particularly with youth activists and young Caymanians.
Referring to a report by regional economist Marla Dukharan, which found that tourism contributes relatively little to the Cayman Islands economy, she said, “We have to have vision and planning for the future and also understand the data and the economics” before making decisions that “will have rippling effects for generations to come”.
One of the panellists, Sam Story, an associate partner at KPMG, explained that the consultants had assumed a high estimate for the population to ensure that, when it is finished, the dock will have the capacity to cope with however many people there are and whatever volume of cargo it has to deal with.
“We can’t predict what the population will be,” he said, noting that unknown economic and political factors would shape this.
Weighing in on the issue, Minister Bryan appeared to agree with the “population concerns” expressed at the meeting. “Most people know my position on immigration reform,” he said but nevertheless insisted that, regardless of population growth, the tonnage of imports will grow because of tourism.
Stating that the current population is 82,000 (a figure that many dispute), Bryan made a point of publicly asking Harold Westerman, from engineering consultants Stantec, at what point the existing cargo facilities would reach capacity.
“The current port can handle very little more population,” Westerman stated. However, the short-term plans they have for dealing with the cargo, which include widening the south pier at the existing port and “shuffling things and reconfiguring things a little at the CDC”, were designed to handle cargo up to 2039. With their estimates for the population growth, that would be 133,000 people.
Beyond that, “you could do lots of little increments” like expanding the CDC and the port, but he said that would not be sufficient for the projected growth. However, he introduced the idea that the port could be built in phases. He said the channel and the turning basin (which would cause major environmental damage) would have to be built, but initially, just two-thirds of the wharf could be constructed and added to “down the road”.
Therefore, if the population growth is smaller than expected, the port would last much longer than 2084, he said. However, this would do nothing to address the environmental destruction and quality of life concerns that were raised.
In the main presentation at the meeting, Westerman explained that the entire process of planning and building the dock would take between ten and fifteen years but should then last for at least 50 more years. While the new dock is processing, they are proposing the expansion and improvement of the current facilities.
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Category: development, Local News
270K is insanity, genuinely unhinged and downright dangerous. We don’t have the infrastructure to support the population as it sits now! our roads can’t handle the level of traffic they get now! or did everyone forget what happened when the island tried to get home after that earthquake? or hell what traffic turns into just during pirates week and carnival? Our public transport system is a joke.
Where would put the amount of waste that size of the population would generate? not just trash but feces? the sewage treatment plan is a disgrace and an environmental hazard as it sits now, and no government has even looked at it in decades. Then there is the giant grass covered elephant in the room that is the dump, CIG just pulled out of the Regen project which, as much as I dislike dart having his greedy hands in everything, was our best chance for getting handle on our garbage manamgnet issues.
Our medical system is breaking with the level it has to meet NOW, they were just being lambasted in the news for not having the facilities to handle the season flu, could you imagine another pandemic with double our current population?
The bathtub we call Cayman is starting to overflow, its time to turn off the tap.
If you allow your shameless government to lead you to the edge of a cliff, who is to blame?
Look in the mirror and see who is responsible.
Fix the damn dump Juju
At least they will have room for all the kids at the Brac High School.
This is madness. Imagine sitting in traffic with a population of $250k, imagine trying to buy land or a house then? What happened to sustainability of our environment?
This is scary What your so called leaders are saying . Seriously.
I’m tuned in to what’s going on in this country but it pains me to see our young people ignore it. Seems they just want to drink and party when issues like this will plague us all for a really long time. Please share this with your friends and family and tell them to tune in and speak out! We can’t handle a larger population and the ridiculous spending has to stop.
Minister Bryan is a danger to this country. He needs to be gone from office next election.
Way too many people. Fix the damn dump Andre please. 🙏
Caymanians wrecking cayman.
Caymanians wake up you now understand their plan vote these political scum out immediately!
Why not make customs more efficient instead of taking a week to clear stuff. Also wouldn’t be a bad idea to put a lot of them on a diet so they move faster.
Option #5 makes sense from a logistical standpoint however North Sound is perceived as an environmental no go area and other factors such as tourism, recreation and elite housing developments surrounding it.
A first class cargo port needs a road link or dedicated lane for HGVs for unhindered transit to Port Warehouse facilities, deep water proximal to shore and ideally it needs be protected by a breakwater. No doubt the undersized inland Port Warehouse will have to be used as staging point for pickups closer to George Town so there will be a requirement for a new one built close to the new Port.
I see location 11, Half Moon Bay as the most ideal location, high ground for the container port & warehouse and relatively short distance from the proposed new East West arterial.
Who cares. The climate folks have us all moving to Scotland anyway.
Option # 4 looks good!
250K population! If you had any doubts before, that the current administration and the one before didn’t/don’t have you or your children’s/grandchildren’s interest in mind here is the proof slapping you right in the face. Keep allowing these maniacs to have 8-12-16 years in office courtesy of the voting Caymanians, ya’ll have no one to blame but yourselves.
LTD da Unbozzler
Climate change will flood most of Cayman anyway so population growth will be controlled by nature
Another extinctionist!
The person that doesn’t recognise sarcasm has entered the chat room
Most of the island will be under water by then. Except for the Great Trashmore Range.
Hilarious.
I do not want to be living in Cayman with 250k human beings. That just sounds disgusting.
Agree. That is not why I came and made my home here 30 years ago! Consecutive governments and so called experts have destroyed Cayman and are planning to totally devastate it. Why want more and more, just leave it alone and develop marine life and natural habitat again. Will not be a third world ‘country’ but become the Islands of destitution and only development will be an alcatraz.
Alright Boomer.
Im gonna go out on a limb and guess where this thing is gonna end up now that I see it noted on the map. Let’s make the claim and see how it ages:
It’s going in number 5.
The idea of trucking all our cargo through residential and coastal areas from breakers to GT is asinine. The idea that we’re going to cut in to the land of breakers to create this thing is equally asinine and frankly ridiculous to even consider.
It is public record that an absolute ton of land near section 5 is owned by Dart. And it makes sense to land your cargo in the industrial park so it can go right to the warehouses and others who use them.
They will dredge a trench in the north sound from the channel to this part of industrial park and that’s where it’ll go. There’s a straight line to do it without hitting any coral or disturbing much.
As for this issue of 250,000 people. It’s not a question of that being realistic or not…we will be OUT of cargo capacity in roughly 10 years. Given how damn slow we are to do anything (how’s the dump these days?) we need to start now.
Forget breakers. It’s going in area 5.
Has Jay seen the map? He is going to insist that North Side also be considered, and like the Electoral Boundaries Commission this could be sent back for a redo.
From the cargo dock on Harbour Drive to the distribution center on Portland Road is less than one mile in a straight line.
Before we decide to build a new dock, why don’t we ask ourselves some simple questions:
Are the containers of cargo arriving at the dock being unloaded(1) and transported to the distribution center(2) in the most efficient manner?
If we can’t answer these simple questions then we should build a cruise port for every cruise line, with a separate designated pier for each of their ships, and a new cargo pier in George Town for every shipping line.
The caymanian/expat ratio would be 1:10. Grand Cayman would suffocate in its own filth.
The quality of life would be non-existent. Health decline would be dramatic. Crime would sky rocket.
Don’t forget to build a crematorium for there is not enough land left for traditional cemeteries.
This comment made tears fall from my eyes.. what have we done.. what are we doing.. who are we building this for..?
Caymanians… we are a dying breed.
This is insanity.
Are the dump calculations also being made on a population of 250k??
NO!
This madness needs to stop. We need to get our population and its growth under control. Imported labour is supposed to serve us, not overwhelm us.
We can easily control our population and need to if we are to survive. We cannot simply sit back and watch it continue to expand without any effective controls.
And by the way, there are already more than 82,000 people here right now.