Government has allocated $8 million in new spending for land and equipment to begin upgrading the cargo port at its existing location.
A business case for additional work to “clean up” the harbour area is also likely before the end of the year.
MPs agreed to the additional funding as part of a $134 million package of new budget appropriations during a Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, 30 June.
Infrastructure Minister Jay Ebanks said $5 million would be for land purchases in Grand Cayman and Little Cayman to help expand port facilities.
He said the Cargo Distribution Centre on Portland Drive, which is running out of space, would likely be expanded through additional land acquisitions.
At the harbour location, there is no room to expand at the dock side, but Ebanks has previously outlined plans for additional land reclamation at that site.
The port is projected to be operating at capacity within a decade. Ebanks previously told the Compass that government hopes to expand at the current location to push that deadline out further and buy time to plan a long-term solution.
A Strategic Outline Case for a new port identified a project at Breakers in Bodden Town district as the best long-term solution, but that could take years to build and would likely cost in excess of $400 million. A project on that scale is not being contemplated right now.
Harbour clean-up
Ebanks told MPs Tuesday he expects to go out to tender on a business case for what he described as cleaning up the location “and determining how much sand could be removed from the area”.
It wasn’t clear if this would also include the wider planned expansion, which he has previously indicated will include an extended pier and reclaimed land.
The timing of that was not discussed.
More imminently, the $8 million in new funding will help address current weaknesses.
“Five million dollars out of that is for land acquisitions around the Port Authority and then the balance is for new Port Authority vessels and also new trucks for our drivers,” Ebanks said.
He said the vehicles that unload the containers from the cargo boats are currently “not fit for purpose”.
Some of the other upgrades, he said, are in preparation for a new Port Authority Act and to help rectify issues flagged in an audit that looked at port operations and compliance with maritime standards.
“We’re going to make sure that we had the port up to date, and are able to pass the next audit,” Ebanks said.
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