Jubilee Park, Christian Heritage Monument to open in June
Construction of the Christian Heritage Monument and Jubilee Park is estimated to cost between $1.25 million and $1.5 million, according to information provided by the Office of the Premier. Cabinet has earmarked $1 million in funding for the development behind the Legislative Assembly Building, which is projected to open in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration the first weekend of June.
The bidding process for the North Church Street project closed in September, and the identity of the successful tendering contractor is expected to be announced soon. The ceremonial ground breaking on the project, at the old Tower Building site, took place in late April in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.
Featuring walkways, a gazebo, restroom facilities and five national heroes bust platforms, Jubilee Park will centre around the Christian Heritage Monument – a roughly 44-feet high bell tower topped with a cross and featuring an observation deck about 20 feet high. The new park and monument will tie into the existing Heroes Square. Sean R. Evans is the project’s lead architect and designer of Heroes Square.
A new parking lot for the Legislative Assembly Building is also part of the project.
Costs, funding
According to documents provided by the Office of the Premier to the Caymanian Compass in response to a Freedom of Information request, the Public Works Department estimated in May that the project would cost $1.26 million, with a “probably cost range” of $1.25 million to $1.5 million. Just more than $1 million of that is for external/site works, including landscaping, hardscaping and park amenities. The total cost of building structures is nearly $98,000, including about $73,000 for the Monument itself. In November 2010, the cost of the bronze bell itself was estimated to be $3,000.
While the Park, Monument and Heroes’ Walk is a nation-building project, the money is not coming directly from the Nation Building Fund.
“It is true that this is a nation-building project of the Office of the Premier and Tourism & Development side of his Ministry. However, due to our budgetary rules, a separate capital vote had to be created for the project,” said Leonard Dilbert, senior strategic adviser to Premier McKeeva Bush’s ministry.
According to the Office of the Premier, “The funding was created by means of Cabinet using Section 11(5) of the Public Management and Finance Law.”
“At present, the level of funding for the project is $1 million: the previous funding level of $1.3 million was reduced by $300,000.”
The Law enables Cabinet to “authorise executive financial transactions for which no appropriation exists” in order to attempt to remedy the effects of “an exception circumstance [that] has occurred during a financial year”.
Because Cabinet earmarked the funds for the project after the 2011/12 budget was passed, the allotment does not appear in the budget.
The Monument has three sides, symbolic of the three Cayman Islands. An earlier concept for the Monument was a bell tower with four granite columns and a tiled roof – that did not include stairs or observation areas. In October 2010, the cost to construct this version of the Monument was estimated to be $33,000.
In November 2010, the total cost of the park and monument was estimated to be less than $250,000.
According to the Office of the Premier, just under $5,800 has been spent on the project to date for planning fees.
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We’s Broke?? I don’t think the Premier listens to himself sometimes..The country is in severe financial stress and yet we always seem to find more money for these pie in the sky projects which only serve to highlight the look what I did mentality….
When there is so much more that needs to be done, why is he spending money on superfluous things like this?
Incredible!! I believe we need parking for the public more urgently, not to mention the other important projects that have been started or are proposed. It is beautiful but we do need to look at priorities, perhaps it could be trimmed some more to have a very small park and some parking. Another idea would be to transfer this park to somewhere else, where there is ample room for the complete park, plus parking for the public who would want to come to see it. Of course, I think, even so, it could wait until we have a surplus of money, instead of when we are supposedly broke.
Nice! If you read the first part of our Constitution, it forbids one from prohibiting or stopping the free exercise of one’s religion or faith. But cleverly our leaders along with local ministers, inserted a clause into the Constitution, making it legal to show respect or favors to an establishment of a religion, such as Christianity, because it is part of our Christian Heritage. Read the first part of the Constituion yourself. There is nothing stopping favoritism.