The long-awaited restoration of the public beach at Kaibo has taken a step closer with government issuing a tender for work including shoreline restoration and beach renourishment.
A Request for Proposal has been made via government’s Bonfire online procurement system for the work that includes the construction of groynes – man-made coastal structures built perpendicular to the shoreline – and the installation of gabions, in this case iron nets filled with rocks, to protect the coast.
Tackling erosion
The RFP, which was issued on 16 Feb. with the stated purpose to “stabilise the shoreline, reduce erosion and restore the beach profile at the Kaibo beach park in North Side”.
A pre-bid meeting and site visit is scheduled for Tuesday, 24 Feb. with questions to be submitted by 4 March and the deadline for submissions on 13 March.
Kaibo beach has been closed since Sept. 2024 with the Ministry of Planning, Lands, Agriculture, Housing and Infrastructure saying it was necessary to ensure public safety while the “essential beach replenishment works and critical infrastructural improvements” were carried out.
“While temporary closures may be inconvenient, the long-term benefits of a restored coastline, modernised amenities and enhanced infrastructure will make the park even better than before. We are excited for the community to enjoy these new facilities soon,” Planning Minister Jay Ebanks said at the time.
Once completed, Kaibo Public Beach Park is expected to feature new cabanas, a restored and replenished coastline, refurbished or new bathroom facilities, groynes to prevent future beach erosion and improved parking facilities.
The beach has now been closed for 17 months with government acknowledging that work was progressing slowly, as the Compass reported in June last year.
“While visible changes on site have been gradual, there has been steady work taking place behind the scenes, including inter-agency coordination and ongoing preparations for the next phase of the redevelopment,” said a spokesperson for the ministry at the time.
They added, “As with many coastal projects, certain components – such as shoreline access improvements – require regulatory approvals, which we’re working through in close coordination with the relevant agencies.”
Trying to replenish the beach at Kaibo has been a long-running challenge. The Compass reported in 2019 that the then government was to spend $1 million on replenishing the beach there after a coastal engineering assessment found that the shoreline at Kaibo had eroded by more than 40 feet since 1994 and was expected to get worse in the future.
Environment officials noted in their remarks on the report that the beach at Kaibo is a man-made one, located on reclaimed land and the natural coastal processes are working to restore it to its normal state.
“In the absence of intervention, the shoreline will continue to erode,” said the report. “It will not stop, and it will not recover. There is limited to no sand supply here, and the landform was artificially created.”
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Groynes to assist with beach replenishment, yes! But this project seems to be taking on the “efficiency” of the GT Revitalization Project.
Does CIG know anything about proper project management?
If the Govt. were to move any slower, it would be moving backwards.
It is deeply disappointing that no work whatsoever was undertaken on Kaibo Public Beach during all the months of hurricane season in 2025 when tourist visitor numbers were at their lowest. Then just as the prime Christmas week arrives, promptly at 7am on 19th December 2025 the Public Works team began jack hammering rocks on Kaibo Beach and continued this sudden burst of noisy activity all week with the exception of Christmas Day.
Did Public Works even consider whether anyone visiting Kaibo Yacht Club, or staying at Kaibo Condos or the Pools of the Kai over Christmas, would welcome the background sound of jackhammering and moving rocks to their time “relaxing” on the beach over their Christmas vacation? I certainly could not blame the guests who chose to immediately cancel a week long booking at my family’s rental unit in Cayman Kai for the Christmas week (at a financial loss of over US$7,000) in order to move to a more peaceful location.
This whole project seems to have been very poorly managed, and with no consideration for either local residents (for example trying to enjoy Christmas as a special time of year), or those whose livelihood depends on tourism income in the Kaibo area. No further activity has taken place so far in 2026.