All of us on Grand Cayman who went through the terror of Hurricane Ivan and the hardships of life for the months afterwards can sympathise with residents of Cayman Brac right now.
We know it will be many months, if not a year or more, before life returns to almost normal. Of course ‘normal’ for Cayman Brac has been forever changed, and just as most Grand Cayman residents refer to life in terms of before and after Ivan, most Brackers will refer to life before and after Hurricane Paloma.
Beyond the difficulties facing the Brackers, however, are the difficulties facing the Cayman Islands.
On top of the global economic crisis and its effects on Cayman’s financial services industry, the real estate industry and the tourism industry, we now have the added expense of another hurricane recovery.
Yes, there will be insurance settlements and donations to help offset the costs of recovery from Paloma, but, as we well know from the experience of Hurricane Ivan, some expenses will have to be borne by the government.
This is most unwelcome news, considering the Government recently had to announce across-the-board cuts to the already approved 2008/09 budget because of projected revenue declines.
Not only will Hurricane Paloma affect the government’s balance sheet because of added expenses associated with the recovery, but it will undoubtedly affect revenues negatively as well. Tourism revenues in the Sister Islands, and especially Cayman Brac, will be less than projected. And even though Grand Cayman was spared the worst of Paloma, the perception of damage could affect tourism here as well.
In the meantime, as far as we know, the government intends to go forward with many major capital infrastructure projects, including three new high schools, a new primary school, a new port facility, a new airport facility and a new government office accommodation project that will become the largest office building in the Cayman Islands. There are new roads planned, and several other capital projects in the works as well.
The question now is can the Cayman Islands Government really afford to continue with all of its ambitious plans with this new challenge of the Cayman Brac recovery on its hands?
The recovery of Cayman Brac must be given absolute priority by the Government, not only in terms of funding, but also in terms of manpower resources, both in government and in the private sector. While the government can argue that all of its capital projects are necessary to the islands, it must facilitate a complete recovery of Cayman Brac before moving ahead.
Although contracts have been signed for some of its capital projects, others have not yet been executed. The Government should put all such projects on hold until the Cayman Brac recovery has been competed.
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