Posted on April 19, 2018
The government is maintaining a veil of secrecy around the progress of the cruise berthing project, despite being very close to declaring a preferred bidder. Despite the massive public interest in what will be the biggest ever infrastructure project in Cayman Islands’ history, the tendering process has been far from transparent. CNS has learned that since pre-qualifying nine bidders, the ministry has narrowed down the potential bidders to just three and is favouring a local consortium headed by a well-known general contractor who is partnering with two cruise lines and a marine engineer.
CNS has submitted questions to the ministry and the new Central Procurement Office about the process but has received no response from either entity to any questions, even though the project has moved forward over the last few weeks.
Although the PPM government throughout the last administration had insisted the project would be transparent, the details of the pre-qualification period, the bidders that were invited to submit what has been described as “outline solutions”, and the more recent re-assessment to narrow the field to only three potential bidders have not been posted on the new procurement website. It is understood, however, that China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), which was one of the nine pre-qualified bidders, has been eliminated.
Sources have told CNS that government is very close to announcing the consortium that it favours to begin the controversial project, although the public still has no idea about the costs and design or any of the parameters of the project. The government has continued to pursue the goal to build piers in George Town Harbour regardless of opposition to the project. The significant environmental damage, the undefined costs to the public purse, the impact on existing infrastructure and attractions have led to opposition from across the community, including the tourism sector.
During the original public consultation those who took part in the survey came down three to one against the project but government has consistently ignored that result.
Opposition Leader Ezzard Miller, who is the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, has stated that “government seems hell-bent on this project” but it is refusing to give any details and is misleading the public about the need for the costly development.
“The public should have some idea of what we are getting,” Miller told CNS, as he questioned why there is so much secrecy. He said the opposition had made three verbal requests and two written requests for a presentation on the issue but he said there has been no responses to those requests.
He added that in addition to the secrecy of the process, he understood that the Port Authority had also been marginalised and was not involved as it should be in accordance with the law.
Miller said government needed to be investing in education and the criminal justice system instead of the cruise port because it was unnecessary. He also questioned the government’s justification for the project given recent news from the cruise industry that the next generation of mega-cruise ships can and are tendering.
“Government is deliberately misinforming the public,” Miller said, as he urged it to reconsider its priorities.
Kenneth Bryan, the independent MLA for George Town Central, the constituency where the development will take place, also noted the lack of transparency. Speaking to CNS, he stated that he, too, believes the public should be told what is going on.
Raising his concerns that the costs and potential environmental damage are causing the government to move the project forward behind closed doors, he said the silence was an indication that there “was obviously something to hide” because government appears to be choosing to avoid the process.
“There are far too many rumours circulating about what is or is not happening. The people in my constituency and nationally need to know what is going on,” he said.
The recent introduction of a Procurement Law and an office to oversee major capital projects has emerged out of a long history of questions surrounding major public development projects in Cayman and allegations of mismanagement and the appearance, if not the reality, of corruption. But as government makes plans to embark on the biggest public project to date, at a time when there are more checks and balances written into the system, the process is still shrouded in secrecy.
Auditor General Sue Winspear told CNS that her office’s role is generally after the fact but she stated that the Office of the Auditor General would be following up on the implementation of recommendations laid out in the major capital projects report which was published last year. (See the report in the CNS Public Library)
While the OAG, which is an independent entity, cannot get involved in the decision-making about projects, she said the office is interested in more “real time” auditing to steer projects back on track if they are in danger of going awry. However, she said that at this point the Central Tenders Committee should be engaged in the port process and she would be checking to ensure it is.
Grand Cayman is currently enjoying some of its best-ever cruise numbers. While this is in part due to the impact of the 2017 hurricane season on several rival destinations, it has also provided an opportunity for the authorities to see the impact of huge passenger arrivals in one day on the existing infrastructure and attractions.
Many people in the tourism sector have highlighted the fact that the limited public beach areas and unique attractions, such as Stingray City, are already cracking under the strain and are close to their capacity for cruise visitor numbers.
Source: CaymanNewsService
