DoT to help government fill up admin building
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (DoT) will be relocating to the new Government Administration Building (GAB) in George Town on Monday, helping with the PPM administration’s goal of boosting the occupancy rate of the modern energy-saving building. During a Public Accounts Committee meeting in September government officials revealed that the building was only 65% occupied as a result of a combination of factors. The downsizing of government, the reluctance of some public authorities to move and the costs of adapting space for others were all cited as reasons for government entities not moving into the GAB.
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson stated at that time that the DoT was making plans to move, which would help improve the occupancy at the building commissioned and built to save the government rent money and, through high energy efficiency, cut down on its utility bills.
DoT officials confirmed its move to join other government entities in the environmentally friendly building this week. It said all services offered by the DoT would continue at the new location, including cashier services, which will now join other revenue collections for government on the first floor.
To facilitate final closure of the present location at Regatta Office Park on West Bay Road, the DoT offices will be closed to the public on the 12 and 13 December. Regular services will resume at 1:00pm on the 16 December in the GAB.
The department apologizes for any inconvenience the office closures may cause but looks forward to working with its customers at the new location.
The contact details for the department are as follows:
To reach by phone, callers should continue to use 345-949-0623
The new address is:
Cayman Islands Department of Tourism
Government Administration Building
133 Elgin Avenue
P.O. Box 67
Grand Cayman KY1-1102
CAYMAN ISLANDS
The hours for the DoT cashiers will remain the same: 8:30am – 3:00pm as of Tuesday, 17 December.
Category: Local News
Well Done Moses. Relocating DoT to GAB makes good business sense. DoT needed to be in GAB rather than paying rent for private office space.
Invest a couple million to remediate the glass house and fit it out for monetary authority.
long term rental or building a new building for CIMA will cost much more in the long run.
Congrats to the PPM for saving our public funds by moving the staff into the government building.
Monetory Authority should be next.
The $200,000 per year manager would never allow that. Nor would the $200,000 per year head of the Stock Exchange. You didn't know we had a Stock Exchange? Oh yes we do. Costs us a fortune in salaries and no one has a clue what it does.
oh yeah, why not have everyone on the flight path to the airport.
"The reluctance of some public authorities to move…". Seriously?! Cut off their funding until they damn well move! We all know they don't want to be under the scrutiny of others in the building. They prefer to be away in other places so their senior managers can come and go as they please and have long liquid lunch hours.
Perhaps many senior managers of agencies that strive to be self-sustaining don't want their staff to be infected by the "wasteful and it is everybody fault other that my own" mentality that permeate some of the civil service departments and ministries within the main government administration building. Many of these persons' actions and attitudes are sucking the life blood out of the few statutory bodies than earn some real money. So don't kid your sorry self about the central control and scrutiny that exists within the new government administration building – in reality, even if there was such control, there are only a very few that are willing to act because within a civil service it is always safer to "do nothing".
Rubish. Rubish Rubish. Some authorities are bound to make money regardless simply by the nature of the job. Monetary, ICTA. Others have no chance because they have to invest in large capials to operate. Howfothey make their oney? by charging ouragous fees.
Mny departmets cannot mke money,.Children & Family Service, Education and so on no mater what you do. They have no income. If education carged 1/2 whatthe private schools charged they to could become succsful
Nice try, 11:40. You tried your best to represent your own cosy little statutory authorities. bur we don't believe you. And soon the law that should have been passed years ago to control your excesses (which was blocked by you all to keep your perks and benefits) will be passed and the country will realise for the first time how you are REALLY performing.
Finally! May many other govt deparments follow.
Why not rent out rooms? That is a national pastime. Like holding permits for people who don’t really work for you.
You could house hundred of Jamaicians and Filipinians on one floor.
Charge each one $500. That isa better deal than they get for a plywood shack in Swamp.
Don't forget that it didn't serve the UDP governments aims to fill the building either.
Minister Archer, please let us know how much rent, electricity and water we are now saving with this new building.
Well DOT was housed is a large office on seven mile beach so there should be significant savings
"…cited as reasons…"
Hmmmm, I think that this should be rephrased to "…cited as excuses…".
There is a big difference.
Any relocation of a business' office is carried out on a weekend to minimize impact on its business activities. Why is govt moving during the week? I have changed offices more than 5 times in my private sector career but never during a business day. I have had numerous clients move offices but never on a weekday.
DoT, what could be the highest impact on your revenue or revenue opportunities by moving during the week? Are the employees given days off or are they charged with moving tasks? If they have the day off, how much is this move costing in free wages? If they are tasked with the move, how much is this move costing you in staff wages compared to having a private co move the office on the weekend?
In this current govt situation each dept needs to maximize revenue and minimize expenses. Sounds to me that none of the two are happening,
Do you seriously think anyone will notice if DOT closes for a few days?
I've got a better idea – shut the whole useless darned thing down and hand the work over to a private contractor on a performance-based contract. That would save CIG $millions.
Performance based pay for hotel inspections. This will lead to (a) people complainign about overly nit-picking inspectors who get paid by the fault they find, or, (b) graft as the inspectors suplement their pay by performing positive inspections, or (c) all of the aove. – Your choice.
You can always tell when people have no clue what is going on like 12:00 above. This is a good example of "crabs in the barrel mentality."
And the 19 times he voted for himself
Always something negative to say. They are saving government a lot of money by moving into the building. Have you thought of that they might have problems with something setting up and there would be no one there to assist on a weekend? I'm not saying that is the case but just giving an example.