Premier McKeeva Bush acknowledged
that the government would consider a special rezoning law to enable a large
port project to be built in East End.
Responding to a question by North
Side MLA Ezzard Miller in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, Mr. Bush said the
government would agree to “a special law” similar to legislation enacted in the
London Docklands, only if developer Joseph Imparato provided a business plan,
environmental impact assessment and economic impact assessment and after
discussions with the public.
The premier said that Mr. Imparato
would bring a “completed draft” of a law to government, but it was not
currently drafting new legislation itself.
“Certainly, we will do whatever is
necessary. If it means a law that can give a better working environment to the
project, we will certainly support it,” Mr. Bush said.
The proposed 1,500-acre port site
in the High Rock area of East End would incorporate a cruise ship home port,
including a hotel and shopping area; a cargo port; a container storage facility
for transhipment; a storage facility for fuels; and a mega yacht facility.
In response to parliamentary
questions from East End MLA Arden McLean, Mr. Bush, said that although the government
has had discussions with Mr. Imparato, formal negotiations could not begin
until the developer submitted the business plan, environmental impact
assessment and economic impact assessment plan.
Asked how much information the
government had on the project, Mr. Bush responded: “The developer has made a
presentation of a concept. That’s as far as it goes. It’s a concept and it’s
one that I believe in.”
He added: “The developer has not
submitted a full plan to the government and we have said that what that plan
needs to entail is an environmental impact assessment, a proper business plan
and an economic impact assessment. None of those things have come to us, none
of those things are done yet, as I understand it, and when the developer has
done it, we can consider the project in its entirety.”
The premier said he did not think
George Town was an appropriate location for a cargo dock and that he supported
North Sound as a perfect site for such a development, but that proposal had
been strongly opposed.
Cayman must embrace shipping and
transhipment opportunities, which Mr. Bush said could bring “tremendous
revenues”.
He said once all the information
and plans relating to the project were made available to him, he would bring
the proposals to the people of Cayman and especially those in the eastern
districts.
Related Videos
