Port documents now available for review on CNS
(CNS): The bulk of a bundle of documents regarding the cruise berthing negotiations and the termination of talks with GLF Construction have now been posted on the CNS website, thanks to the assistance of a reader. The documents, which were revealed to Cayman News Service following a yearlong freedom of information request to the Port Authority, include a copy of the settlement agreement between government and GLF, in which GLF was paid some US$2.5 million in compensation from the public purse. The records also include various minutes of meetings, correspondence between the former premier and the developer and emails between government officials and lawyers.
For ease of reference, the records have been broken down into seven separate documents, in chronological order with the oldest correspondence in the first document. This includes the letters from GLF stating that the firm was ready to move ahead with the project just before then premier McKeeva Bush terminated the framework agreement. The final seventh document contains a copy of the full settlement agreement.
Related article:
See the released documents below.
Category: FOI
People have come to realize Bush was a failure as Premier. But they may not know why. This correspondence sheds some light on that. Thanks CNS. If the tone Bush used in this Port correspondence is any example of his abilities to negotiate it shows a frightening picture of a man who is well out of his league and quite unstable. Being used to getting his own way by bullying and intimidation when confronted with a situation requiring tact and diplomacy he can't seem to stop. Further he throws a temper tantrum because information on a project affecting the people of the island was made available to the public? After that he has no response to perfectly reasonable requests from GLF or it's solicitors with regard to the papers they had signed and instead becomes abrasive. This is not someone you want spending your money or representing your interests. It seems they were also hosts for a trip to Venice for him, his wife, Cline Gidden, his wife, and Richard Parchment and…his wife?? We won't go there. But I'm sure Venice was beautiful at that time of year. In any event we know he likes to travel in style but if this is the preception he left in his many travels that of being ill educated, blustering and pompous he was an embarrassment to the country. I shudder to think of what they said of him or Cayman after he left. "That's their leader??" "Did he sign anything??" "Not really.. he just ate." Although he had a good time at the island's expense. Financially after his debts are paid of… it is the diplomatic costs that will linger. And the people of the Cayman Islands are beginning to pay those costs. Leaving Cayman in a difficult situation with regard to the U.K. And it wasn't neccessary. So much so they decided the island now needs adult supervision. We can only hope and pray Cayman has matured enough not to allow someone like that to get into the position of Premier again.
Thanks CNS. The most hare-brained aspect of this caper is that there is absolutely no assurance or agreement on passenger guarantees from Carnival and Royal Caribbean, nor any capital contribution from either of those parties. It is brought up again and again by the banking group when you read their comments. Why the heck would the Cayman Islands government borrow $200mln plus interest without any assurances from the liners themselves on passenger volume?!? It doesn't get any more reckless than that. We as a country are actually lucky that this never proceeded. If there is any lesson here, it is that we should never again proceed to this level of discussion without first having a plan that has passed rudimentary economic feasibility. There were more than enough people in the room that should have known better.
Commenter, as someone who has taken the time to read the attached correspondence I am a little confused by what you are saying.
Your comment seems as if it has the purpose of trying to mislead those who have not taken the time to carefully read everything. If one does take the time to read everything carefully the GLF correspondence clearly indicates that GLF had gotten, in addition to positive feedback on both their port design and financing proposal, verbal committments on passenger guarantee numbers from Carnival and Royal Caribbean. They clearly state this, and go on to indicate that in order for GLF(or any other contractor for that matter) to get a signed agreement for passenger numbers and fees from the cruise lines would have required CIG/PACI to live up to their requirements as set out in the Framework Agreement, which we all now know they didn't. So ultimately the deal failed because even though GLF did what was required of them, CIG/PACI didn't.
The correspondence also indicates that it was GLF, NOT CIG, that would have borrowed the $200 million for the project.
I'm sorry, but nobody in the real world loans anybody $200mln on the basis of verbal commitments, and no government should willingly enter into a debt agreement with third parties without some assurance that revenues would offset expenditures on the capital project. GLF found people willing to loan CIG the money – they weren't going to donate the money for nothing!
You make a good point which is the same point I have been considering with the news release last night about the port and Carnival no longer bringing their new huge cruise liner here stating we will have lost quarter of a million due to this. My question was, did Carnival give any assurances that their new super cruiser would be coming here in the first place. And then one has to ask them if we were to rectify the port situation (which admittedly needs rectifying on not only a value for money but also suitability for purpose basis), would Carnival give us any guarantees that the situation would change if they had their fantastic docking facilities? Perhaps its not just the dock – perhaps its the ghost town that is purportedly the capital of the Cayman Islands? I mean lets face it, most people can't wait to visit capital's around the work, but there really isn't much to see here is there?
The reason we have a "Ghost Town" is because of the failure of consecutive governments to build a proper berthing facility. Just get it done and one will be quite amazed at how George Town will spring back to life! Combine this with incentives for Downtown landlords to convert their properties to mixed use(retail/restaurant/cafe at street level, residential on upper levels) and we will then see George Town reach its true potential.
8.38 Why offer an opinion when you clearly haven't absorbed the facts, which as stated by you above, are entirely misleading? Your letter is a misinformed knee-jerk.
Outside of Mac’s priceless little rants, that was pretty dull reading.
Those comical little rants were all he was ever good for anyway.