Beach re-nourishment to go ahead if budgeted, says deputy premier

If funding is approved in the 2024-2025 budget, the much-awaited re-nourishment of Seven Mile Beach will go ahead.

That’s according to Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who was responding to a parliamentary question on the topic on Tuesday, 19 Sept.

Joey Hew, MP for George Town North, asked if an update could be provided on the project which was announced in December 2021 and was expected to start this year.

The plan was to replace sand at the southern end of Seven Mile Beach that had been eroded by storms over several years at a cost of $20 million – but work has not yet begun.

The shore was further eroded during the passage of Hurricane Idalia, which skirted Grand Cayman at the end of August, leaving huge areas of sand missing.

It reignited concerns from beachfront property owners who are worried about the lack of assessment and action.

The Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency was originally granted $1 million to conduct a business case and feasibility study.

But O’Connor-Connolly, who is also Minister of District Administration and Lands, said responsibility for the two-year project was transferred to her ministry in 2022.

Following the transfer, the ministry facilitated a technical working group to complete the initial work and a strategic outline case was prepared, she explained.

This is the first of a three stage business case required by the Procurement Act 2016 and Procurement Regulations (2022 Revision) due to the size of the project.

The minister went on to say full funding for the project was not transferred to her ministry, but if it is approved in the 2024-2025 budget, “the project will progress accordingly”.

Hew asked if the technical working group is the same as the ‘Beach Erosion Committee’ that was mentioned in the past.

But the lands minister said it is a new group set up since the project was transferred, to deal with the strategic business case.

Hew then asked if the committee still exists and O’Connor-Connolly responded that she will find out.

He also questioned what is happening with the coastal works policy that the committee was meant to create in order to allow property owners to rebuild damaged seawalls.

She again said with the transfer of the project, some knowledge has yet to be passed on, and added that she would gather the information for the MP.

Conflicting views

Earlier this month, Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan told the Compass he was not inclined to support public funds being used to replace a beach that could potentially be lost again.

“How do I say take $20 million to put sand back, that potentially is at risk of being lost again in any Nor’wester, as well as [risking] taxpayers’ money and they can’t even go to the beach?”

Bryan said there is a shared responsibility, but the developers of the properties took a risk when they decided to build close to the coastline.

He added there was no easy solution, adding the problem was a result of weather patterns, global climate circumstances, hurricanes and “possibly… bad planning”.

In Parliament, Sir Alden McLaughlin, MP for Red Bay, mentioned Bryan’s opposition to the work and said O’Connor-Connolly was in a “most unfortunate position”.

He asked her if the government’s position on the re-nourishment project had changed.

She responded: “The Constitution makes provision that if a minister of Cabinet seeks to deviate from the government’s policy, there is an option available.

“I have no briefing from the honourable minister and I would suggest that perhaps if the answer is not satisfactory, that a substantive answer be put forward when the minister’s here.”

Bryan had sent apologies in the morning to say he would be arriving late at Parliament due to official travel and was not in the House at the time of the question.