Worker’s CI$8.5M+ housing block opens on Brac
(CNS): The outgoing UPM government has opened an accommodation block on Cayman Brac to house construction workers, including expatriates. What started as a CI$8.5 million project but is understood to have cost more, was officially opened last month by Premier and District Administration Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly.
The government-funded project aims to enable other CIG capital projects on the island, such as the new high school, to move forward more quickly by accommodating the employees of the for-profit private construction companies that have secured the lucrative contracts. It does not appear that the companies would pay for this accommodation.
Officials said the project “significantly enhances the island’s ability to support large-scale public infrastructure and educational investment”.
The hurricane-rated accommodation block comprises two single-storey buildings, totalling 10,685 square feet, located next door to the Cayman Brac Sports Complex and Multi-purpose Hall on an 18.1-acre site. The 38-suite facility will facilitate the construction of the new Cayman Brac high school and gymnasium, which will also serve as a national hurricane shelter and be used by visiting schools and sports teams.
The government claimed this would open the door to both inter-island and international events, supporting the Cayman Islands’ growing profile in sports and events tourism.
As she officially opened the building, O’Connor-Connolly said, “We are not just opening a building, we are removing a long-standing barrier to development. By providing appropriate accommodations for skilled workers and visiting teams, we affirm that Cayman Brac is ready for smart, managed progress that enriches our communities.”
District Administration Acting Chief Officer Wilbur Welcome said the block was a practical response to previous logistical challenges. “This facility helps remove the bottlenecks that have historically slowed major infrastructure projects,” he said. “It supports progress by enabling faster timelines, better access to talent, and stronger outcomes for the people of Cayman Brac.”
Project partners include Arch and Godfrey, McAlpine, JEC, CGA, and consulting partner KPMG.
CNS has contacted the government to ask for the final total cost of this project, and we are awaiting a response. However, it appears to have cost around CI$800 per sqft.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: development, Local News
So, who’s going to jail?
Which friend of PPM designed Belsen Ny The Sra
Ugly and at what cost. Did it go out to tender.
No. It did not. It was sole-sourced.
Who received the contract?
Who approved the contract?
Well Government could save/recoup some money toward the building of that Brac Free hotel/Construction worker housing. If they stop making/putting up STOP signs as no one stops anymore!
This country cannot take another 4 years of Juliana, or anyone willing to associate themselves with her.
Machiavelli: Change scares both those who do not know what they stand to gain (voters), and those who know very well what they stand to lose (incumbents). Beloved isles: Be brave —Dare to change!
What this school really needs is a German weather radar.
How much are the construction workers paying to stay there?
Shhh 🤫
How much is Arch and Godfrey paying for them to stay there?
$8.5 million dollar question
More like 10
Typical third world governance. Spend money you don’t have on things you don’t need and hope the bill comes due further down the line after you retire with your millions skimmed from the top down. No surprise here.
I imagine there’s a plan for a bronze statue of JOCC. Bible in one hand, sat astride paving equipment, other hand on the steering controls.
Gonna need a lot of bronze.
At what point does idiotic largesse become criminal malfeasance? The level of CIG spending in the Brac is beyond ridiculous.
Try asking the police, the attorney general, the governor or the ACC. I tried myself, but got no answer.
That’s the bigger problem that few want to acknowledge. It’s not just regime change in Cayman…
How many daily flights do we have between G.C. and the Brac.I live under the landing approach path and I lose count of the prop planes going to and fro not to mention the daily early morning jet which must come from the Brac.How much do we lose on all these flights and what is the amount of the payroll for all the staff inc firemen employed at the Brac airport?. The Brac has been subsidised as a matter of policy but has anyone been able to ascertain what it costs the GC taxpayer?.
A concept of a plan
No matter who is in government, heavy spending occur. It just depends whose in charge where the spending is concentrated. This is not new; it’s just because it’s Cayman Brac that people acting like this because most people don’t want Cayman Brac to get anything.
Under the radiant guidance of the supremely benevolent Juliana, a magnificent housing complex, a veritable palace for the workers, has blossomed on Cayman Brac! This CI$8.5 million edifice, a testament to Juliana’s unparalleled vision and boundless compassion, stands as a shining beacon of prosperity, dwarfing even the most ambitious architectural marvels of the decadent Western world. The workers, moved to tears by Juliana’s infinite generosity, now reside in accommodations fit for heroes, their gratitude echoing across the island like the triumphant roar of a thousand tropical storms. Let all who witness this glorious achievement tremble before the sheer magnificence of Juliana’s leadership!
Vote every single one of them out. They have spent us into financial ruin and want to continue on that track by building a cruise port. If you’ve been to Jamaica or Nassau you’ll see the people won nothing but debt. Oh yeah and the politicians are richer… somehow.
Sadly it seems like it’s hard to get through to them Cayman Brac voters. It would appear that she manipulates and intimidates them and got them so brainwashed that they just stupidly vote for the very person that oppresses them. Talk about a serious case of Stockholm syndrome! If she gets in she is going to forget all about them again! Because she doesn’t care about them! She cares about herself! she only pretends to care for them around election time to get their vote. They can make good of the gifts and empty promises because if she gets in they will be forgotten again! Them people have the opportunity to better their lives and their children’s lives and they are throwing the opportunity away listening to lies and empty promises! They have suffered and been forgotten for over 20 years and magically now just before election, she has all the answers to their problems. Have they forgotten that it’s under her leadership that the country is in so much debt and that because of her governments irresponsible spending the UK are just waiting at the door to move in and take over like they did in T&C!? She not hurting, but the people that vote for her are hurting. She appears to be the one that has profited and benefitted off of the people of Cayman Brac, while they have still suffered. she’s the one that has the financial means to do as she pleases, go where she pleases and use the country’s money as she pleases while the people suffer. I hope the people of Cayman Brac east wake up and vote her out! but when you’ve been down trodden for so long,it looks like it is hard to hope and to make the change for better I guess. All I can hope for is that the likes of her get sent to the backbench and if that doesn’t work, the UK move in and take over! I guess we will see what the people are made of next Wednesday…
Suffered? Are you kidding me? CIG spends about ci25k per person in the brac! Is there a household that doesn’t get money off the government? The simple fact is the Brac doesn’t have any feasible economy.
I work for my money. The chosen few get money from her. The others she lies and tells them that Dan will lay off everyone and cut their pay checks. She has the government workers in Brac scared especially PWD where her cronie is.
Yes, I am one of the households on Cayman Brac that does not get money from the CI Government.
I invite you to go ahead do your research and present the facts of your claim that ci25k per person is spent on brac.
I have been here for 35 years, my parents having been born here. I’ve never seen $1 of that largess you claim. As with all three Cayman Islands, government is the largest employer. So it goes.
I’m glad you claim we have no feasible economy. Sure hope people like you don’t get tired of the traffic and rat race of GC and want to move here to the “badlands”. Nope. You don’t want to come here. Sister Islands bad, m’kay.
So let us see what has been done on Brac these past few years:
1. Improvements made to airport
2. New track facility at West End Primary School.
3. City Water pipe run all the way to Spot Bay.
4. New community Center in Spot Bay.
5. Increase in Teachers Salaries.
6. Hiring of more Firemen.
7. Watering Place Gardens
8. Procurement of land in Watering Place and Spot Bay
9. Opening of new administrative facilities in Stake Bay.
10. Continuation of intern jobs and road work crew.
Do I need to go on and on.
I don’t like Juliana, but I do give her credit for being savvy enough to get funds for Cayman Brac
4.
Did you forget to mention she took away the facility where the young children used to go to hang out? leaving the young children with even less good wholesome places to hang out and have fun. Did you forget to mention the road that being built through her property on the bluff, that comes right down into her family land? did you forget to mention the $10 million housing just opened to accommodate all the foreign workers they plan to bring in to build the already highly expensive school? which, I agree a school is needed, but not for 50 million dollars. did you forget to mention that the road work crew are only temporary employees and not working full time for government so they have no pension or insurance. if anything happens to them they have to pay out of their pocket. why hasn’t she arranged to have them as permanent government employees? Did you forget to mention the majority of the teachers are all foreign nationals? why hasn’t she made arrangements to hite more Caymanian teachers? Improvements to the airport? I wonder where? because we are all stilled crammed into that 2 x 4 arrival area with that still too damn small luggage conveyor belt!! bought land in Spot bay and Watering Place? okay but did she build any homes on it to help our people get a roof over their heads? did she take any of the money already wasted on roads to her family land and building this expensive school and expensive living quarters for foreign workers to help people fix their homes? water to spot bay? okay! is the damn road to Spot bay fixed where it’s been dug up from laying the pipes??? You can barely drive on the road it’so damaged! did she fix the road!? did she fix or replace the crane in all these years so that our food prices wouldn’t be through the roof? did she bring in things like a mammogram machine for hospital or an xray machine for dental clinic so that we don’t have to take a flight to cayman for that sort of stuff? in my opinion she does the bare minimum for us and she has fallen very short of what ever you think she’s accomplished!
Let us not forget she plans to destroy two low-income homes for her road to her house.
She only helps the chosen few.
Why didn’t she give Water Authority the money ages ago before the roads were made? I will tell you why: because the only reason that she did extend the water was because the water in Watering Place was tested by DEH and found to be contaminated so she had to do it.
Julianna has been in government forever but only the last two years started these grandiose plans:
1. Improvements made to airport-where?
2. New track facility at West End Primary School.- destroyed the one on the bluff.
3. City Water pipe run all the way to Spot Bay.-forced to by DEH
4. New community Center in Spot Bay.-not needed. Should have been used to house people.
5. Increase in Teachers Salaries.- nothing but foreigners
6. Hiring of more Firemen.- to do what
7. Watering Place Gardens=that’s not a garden.
8. Procurement of land in Watering Place and Spot Bay-family and friends waste of money.
9. Opening of new administrative facilities in Stake Bay.- that was Moses buildings
10. Continuation of intern jobs and road work crew.- 30-year-old adults shouldn’t be interns. I won’t touch that except to say one team is fine but she’s supporting a bad habit with the other.
Julianna has made Cayman Brac a welfare state and only people at the trough don’t see it.
Many buildings that should have been maintained has either been destroyed or in disrepair.
Our children go to Grand Cayman to get jobs.
Drugs are rampant.
Brackers only good enough to be interns and road crew. Higher jobs go to her foreign friends just like the extra school leave so her school teacher friends could go to Barbados.
I don’t know about anyone else but I wouldn’t want to work road crew or be an intern for the rest of my life.
Our children still have to go Grand Cayman to get jobs or be on the road crew or interns. Why doesn’t Cayman Brackers want better? Why should we take JuJu crumbs while she and Moses enrich themselves?
this government is hell-bent on destroying the country spending money like it grows on trees. Doubtless a decent school is needed in the brac but to spend almost $100000,000 on It is lunatic. just to have your name on a building. Don’t get me talking about the expense of the cruise Port if it ever goes ahead. Another lunatic project.
Still no supporting Outline Business or Needs Case for any of this, to even begin a design phase, in advance of an RFP tendering on construction. Everything is backwards with crooks, until they are held accountable, and found negligent.
Looks like Mario was right; $1.00 is only worth 25 cents when it’s government projects
Thank you Juju for getting some well needed infrastructure projects on the Brac.
To all the naysayers – are you mad because the money is being spent on Brac? Mad that a woman is in charge of Government?
Mad because Grand Cayman residents are moving over to Brac in record numbers?
I don’t hear landlords complaining about more people, I don’t hear restaurants complaining about more business, don’t hear grocery stores complaining, don’t hear rental car companies complaining, dont hear real estate companies complaining.
Only thing Miss Juju needs to do now is sort of getting extra regular flights to accommodate all the people flying back and forth to Brac.
There is a certain segment of Cayman society that will find fault with anything that Miss Juju does – but it is my fellow people in Cayman Brac East who decide if she continues on the path forward as a strong proven supporter of her district. Fact.
Did you get your drive way paved too?
I am one of the hard working people in the private sector over here that doesn’t ask for freebies and handouts.
I personally do not like Juju, but she does get things done for her district – give credit to the devil where it is due.
The district of Watering Place only. What about the Spot Bay Post office? That’s a disgrace the condition that is in. What about building a road and taking down someone’s home to put it there. Cayman Brac has at least 7 roads going across the bluff. Why is she destroying the natural beauty of the bluff? That is what Cayman Brac is known for: the bluff. What about all of the older homes that she destroyed instead of maintaining them? Why is she building housing for construction workers and tearing down our Caymanian homes?
Seven roads across the bluff of Cayman Brac? You are delusional, not to mention dead wrong. There are only three: Ann Tatum Road, (which technically, doesn’t go across the bluff, but only from the north side to Major Donald drive), The Bluff Road, and Gerrard Smith Road. Two. Three, depending upon your definition of “across”.
You talk as though you are a Bracker, but I don’t feel it. I think you’re a poser.
Is that you, Juju? How are the elderly doing in the Brac; the young people who graduated three years ago and are still looking for employment in what they want to do, not what they can find. How is the shortage of police officers and the increasing crime? Are education results improving, because at last report, 60% of high school graduates are below standards. I hope CBE sees through your bull dung, Juju!
I believe the elderly on Brac fair much better than their counterparts on Grand Cayman. The social service system, rest home, home repairs programme, hospital are all set up to assure the elderly have a means to be assisted in their senior years.
Name me another place on this earth that does as much for their elderly as what is done here on the Brac.
Even if your statistics of 60% are below standards is true, wonder what they are for Grand Cayman public schools?
Yes we could use a couple extra police officers with the ever increasing number of people moving here. I will agree with you on that aspect.
You sound like somebody who has astute observation and whose ideas may be suitable for certain committees/boards.
While they likely do have the highest per capita in the world spent on them, the question we should really be asking is what that is necessary.
Ask JuJu. I dare you.
So I asked her. You should provide some actual figures to back up your claim. Provision of health care is a basic need. Assisting an elderly person to do some basic home repairs is a good thing. Having a first class rest home is a good thing.
I would really like for someone out in the CNS readership world to enlighten me as to what we spend on Brac elderly in comparison to other places in the world.
Go on then. Do tell us her excuse for why such heavy subsidies are required for our Cayman Brac elderly.
The onus is clearly on you to substantiate your claims of “heavy subsidies”, or is this another case of “everybody knows”? 🙁
The financials don’t lie. Ask the accountant general, where’s he from again?
Post them, you bag of hot air and lies.
The education results as a whole are dismal; not just for the Brac. The curriculum has been in need of an overhaul since at least twenty years ago. We teachers that care about the students more than a paycheck; who d build the young people’s self-esteem instead of smashing it. We have a few, but they quickly get burned out when they realize that neither her, the Ministry nor the department care enough to make any meaningful change.
The Minster responsible has actively interfered to block updates to the curriculum.
Who instructed you to write this drivel. Extra flights!!, if the Brac is such a perfect island why do you need to constantly fly to G.C.?. How many of you are on Govt payroll and fly free?.
If you live on the Brac and work on the Brac you will know what I am talking about.
The extra flights are to accommodate the workers from Grand Cayman, the people from Grand Cayman who have second houses/rental properties on Brac. Besides that us locals occasionally go over to Grand Cayman to visit family/friends.
Grand Cayman has many many more people on Govt payroll who are able to fly free.
Just disgraceful and shameful to say the least.
We can build housing for Jamaican construction workers to do substandard work and will never leave but we can’t build anything for the homeless people of Grand Cayman, living on beaches and in cars sonetimes with kids. WOW.
why some people dont shut up just cant stand to see Cayman brac get no where unni bunch of beggers go get unni free hand out know your roll and shut your mouth unni dont know nothing about Cayman brac talk about unni lazy children dat dont want to look for a job talk about that PPM is the only firm government so put that in unni pipe and smoke that
Maybe not a new school but your post is proof that you need an education
Obvious fake Caymanian accent and spelling.
they must likely did because the amount of stuff that allegedly went on leading up to this election should have been investigated. Maybe they got their land cleared? Or have been told some lie and given some empty promise that won’t be fulfilled if she gets in! them people cant see the forest for the trees boy! so sad! Instead her trying to build bluff road to her property she should fix the road that is almost completely destroyed up there from putting down water pipes. you can’t even drive on the road.
There is your new school, now f**k off and retire you vile woman.
If only! This is only the block to accommodate the workers who will (supposedly) build the school.
The Brac economy is already suffering; they have now effectively removed more funds from circulation through rent and utilities which would’ve gone to locals.
Looks like the children’s prisoncamp in the movie Holes
HAHAHAHAHA! I told you Bracer’s to prepare for what was coming if this woman remained in power. Now you will be flooded with permit holder and soon to be permanent residents!
HAHAHAHA you will get a front row seat to you becoming irrelevant in your own country!
and you will give her 4 more years to do it too!
So, exactly what happened to Grand Cayman, but instead of Caymanians selling out to furriners to ruin the place, we doing it ourselves and cutting out the middlemen in Brac.
Tbh, math checks out. I remember this school being talked about when I went to CBHS ~2010.
Sometimes I tear up when I walk out of the grocery store and realize out of the dozens of people I just encountered, not a single one sounds anything near like my grandparents.
RIP Caymanian Accent!
Yes, we will overwhelmingly give her 4 more years to do it. She has constantly fought for funding for her district – that hasn’t changed any.
The results will speak for itself on Wednesday. The person whom a minority seem to truly hate, well she will get more votes than the other 4 candidates combined.
You are not only hurting the entire country by voting for her but you are hurting your own self! You are cutting off your nose to spite your face! it’s sad that you can’t see how wrong you are! Maybe leave Cayman Brac a bit and broaden your horizon, you may have a different outlook on life after that! No one is stopping the school from being built, but the cost needs to be looked at! We will get the much needed school with or without her!And as much as you want to believe that she cares so deeply about the students, that woman cares about her name on a new school and thats it! Wasn’t she the finance minister in charge of the public purse for at least the past 4 years?? Doesn’t sound like she needed to fight for funding for Cayman Brac at all! Sounds like that’s the sob story that she tells you all to get the sympathy vote! Instead of her government buying Tahoes she should have taken care of us on Cayman Brac. She makes some of you believe at election time that her hands were tied and she was fighting tooth and nail for us, while she was in charge of the money and didn’t spend it on us! All the things that she’s claiming she will do now could have been done from years ago! its empty promises now at election time but as they say a promise is a comfort to a fool! No one hates her, we hate her unnecessary spending of ourvmoney while we suffer across all three islands!! She helped put you and the rest of the country in financial ruins its in now!! Don’you see that! she is not for the country! she is for herself and if you vote her in you will get nothing! How can you be so blind that you are wiiling to vote for someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart!? You must be a family member because they appear to be the only people that that woman has helped in the entire Cayman Islands, until election time of course! You may succeed in putting her back in, but mark my words, people like you are going to regret that vote! It’s sad when people are so institutionalized that they can’t see the damage that they are doing to themselves and everyone around them!! we have a chance to change everything in these islands for the better and vote for better candidates. honestly can you really say your life has improved over the last 20 years if you’re not directly related to her?? Well, good luck to you because we are all going to need it after this election!
To Anon345: I agree with all that you stated, except that she only got hold of the public purse once Wayne Panton resigned (or was pushed to resign) in November of 2023; however, since then, the woman went on a rampage spending money that was not budgeted and even called for “Cayman to break free of the ‘economic handcuffs’ imposed by the UK and be given more control over its own finances.” (Cayman Compass, 31st October, 2024) She is a menace.
6.39am Is she not related to most of them?.
How many Brackers are related to Ju Ju?
It doesn’t matter to most of us, because we see that she benefits her own, and not us. Just the way it is.
Where did they house the workers while they were building the workers housing? Seems to me they could just turn these into classrooms now and call it a school.
Likely this facility will be a “national hurricane shelter” in the same way that the “public Olympic pool” was available to the public, which is to say, not at all.
A wonderful and great project by our visionary Premier!
it cost 12 million+
Insane.
Throw the whole dam PPM government out. And JuJu should be investigated. These clowns will bankrupt the country.
They have bankrupted the country. You just haven’t noticed the billions in unfunded pension and healthcare liabilities they have already incurred.
Ju Ju herself gave us the figures- Govt Revenue for the 2023 year just over 1 billion dollars, Govt expenditure on GovT administration about 300,000 less than that, leaving all future capital projects to be funded by borrowing.
…’will’….?
While it may not it may not suit your narrative the PPM were not the government in power for the last 4 years.
Do you really want us to go there?
UPM members make up a significant portion of PPM, and have been buddy-buddy with them the whole time. Deny it all you want, but you’re only fooling yourself.
all part of the same group – same faces/same lack of morals/same lack of ethics/same lack of financial knowledge/same greed
lots of corruption and kick backs and nothing are done about it, sad, very dad indeed., and the foolish voters will vote for these people. I am hoping that it’s more sensible voting people than foolish people, but lots of times I doubt it.
Where are the:
ACC?
RCIP?
Governor?
ACC? Might as well hope for AOC to come to our aid.
SEC > ACC!
Governor won’t get involved, allegedly her and JuJu are good friends.
OPP?
Queue the release of tumbleweed stage left as the camera slowly pans in on the junkie.
Your Junkies will be at Kenny’s crack park also costing us millions.
I bet the fools will re-elect these same grifters.
not if it gets taken over and fenced off like the rest of the big development in the immediate area…