Premier McKeeva Bush last week tabled a bill to establish a special economic zone in Cayman, a move that will pave the way to create the Cayman Enterprise City.
Laying the Special Economic Zones Bill, 2011 on the table of the House Thursday evening, 8 September, Mr. Bush said: “A definitive agreement with Cayman Enterprise City Ltd. was approved by Cabinet and signed on 13 July, 2011. Part of the government’s obligations under this agreement is to pass legislation to allow for special economic zones in general, and to provide specific incentives to Cayman Enterprise City Ltd.”
Mr. Bush told lawmakers that on Tuesday, 6 September, Cabinet had advised that approval should be given for the bill and that amendments to other laws would also need to be carried out to ensure that the government’s obligations under the agreement with the company were met.
Under the agreement, amendments will be made to the Immigration Law, the Companies Law, the Stamp Duty Law; and the Registered Lands Law.
“While I will not go into specific details about The Special Economic Zones Bill, 2011 at this time, I will briefly highlight that this bill focuses on three main areas,” Mr. Bush told the Legislative Assembly. These were the “establishment, functions and powers of the Special Economic Zone Authority; designation of a Special Economic Zone and its developer; and issuing Zone Trade Certificates”, he said.
“This is an exciting and important project for the future of the Cayman Islands and speaks to the advent of what is potentially a new pillar of our economy to go along with financial services and tourism,” said Mr. Bush, who added; “We are harnessing our economy and indeed the future opportunities of our people to the technologies and industries of the future.”
Formal debate on the bill will begin 21 days after the laying of the bill on the table of the House.
Cayman Enterprise City will consist of five elements – Cayman Internet Park, Cayman Media Park, Cayman Biotech Park, Cayman Commodities Park and Cayman International Academic Park – in a 500,000 square-foot, low-rise campus in the eastern part of Grand Cayman.
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I hope everyone knows Mr Hon real well and is satisfied he can get this done right, because you are handling him a monopoly. All future high tech will have to go through him and pay his rent if they want to get the benefits of no duty etc.
Lets see …500k sqft ,,,,that is about 12 acres i bet it will make everything better ,,,,,,perhaps it should be 500 acres then something may happen….on that other island just south east of here there enterprise zone is just over 1000 acres and they sucked up lots of us companys ,,,typical cayman copy that wont work is what goes thru my mind first then followed by no labor pool followed by no support facilitys nearby proposed area ..
That port sure of would of helped At least someone is trying
I thought about this subject a little more than my last post and the whole island should be an economic zone We should love nothing better than Any business setting up anywhere on this island not just a little 12 acres
Furthermore we should bend over backwords in order to lure any company here for example free rent low duty, no work permit fees for certin type of businesses, to name a few. While we are at it perhaps the govt or the banks should explore purchasing a manufacturing business to jump start the program…..Gator Nails in dom rep comes to mind .maybe set up some kind of export fishery like conch fritters or saltwater taffy . furthermore the true focus of the zone should be around the New airport in the eastern districts .