Any New Developments Plans for Continuation of East West Arterial Road Cayman

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has set operational priorities with regard to construction, upgrading, rehabilitation and maintenance of public roads.  The biggest of these projects is the construction of the East-West arterial road.  However, as Alric Lindsay, chairman of the NRA board of directors explained, paperwork is delaying the progress of the road.

Reason for the new road

Lindsay said that, had the paperwork been completed and the advice of the Cayman Islands Department of the Environment (DoE) been implemented previously, relief would have been at the doorsteps of residents of the Eastern districts many years ago.

Such relief would have come in the form of improvement of the experience of road users, who are confronted daily with a 5am wakeup, just to make it to school and work in George Town on time.

"It's doubling down of stress for road users," Lindsay said.

"Having to get up so early and then sit in traffic for a long time to go east after work cannot be a pleasant experience," he continued.

Lindsay said that the matter is also a sticking point for road users because the road will now be built following the rapid pace of housing and other development rather than before such planned development.

Had Minister Jay Ebanks been in power the last go-round, the opposite would have occurred- long-term plans would have been in place and public roads would have been constructed before population increases and new developments led to an exacerbation of public road issues.

I wish I had a magic wand, but Ebanks in this position many years ago would have avoided the challenges that we now face.

Lindsay lamented.

The task now, as Lindsay put it, is to get on with the paperwork and get the road done so that not only North Siders and East Enders can enjoy the ride home, but other road users as well.

The paperwork

For members of the public who are not aware, the paperwork that is constantly referred to is what must be put in place to satisfy the requirements of the Procurement Act, the Procurement Regulations and most importantly, the National Conservation Council Directive for Environmental Impact Assessments, published in the Cayman Islands Gazette in June 2016.

Without getting into the complexities, this involves a project proposal, screening opinion, scoping opinion, selection of environmental consultants, completion of an environmental statement and development of an environmental management plan.

Regarding the assessment of proposals and preparation of the screening opinion, it is understood that this was delegated by the National Conservation Council to the DoE.

With the NRA's managing director, Edward Howard, having now confirmed that the screening opinion and scoping opinion are completed, the next step is publish a request for proposals (RFP) on the Cayman Bonfire hub website (see https://cayman.bonfirehub.com/) in order to give interested parties an opportunity to submit bids to become consultants on the project.  Any such parties who are not yet registered as users on the Bonfire hub should visit the site and register now before the official RFP is published there in due course.

As a part of this process, the Environmental Assessment Board (chaired by DoE) will determine whether the consultancy teams meet the basic competency requirement and whether they possess the technical capacity to undertake the environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Of course, the NRA is cooperating with the DoE and following the Directive, Acts and regulations in order to get this done.  In fact, it was the new board of directors of the NRA which initiated contact with the DoE to ensure that the concerns of the DoE and the public were considered.

This is also why Lindsay asked Howard, the NRA boss, to arrange public meetings to regularly engage the public so that stakeholder feedback can be obtained and that the public is aware of the progress and step-by-step requirements.

Minister Jay Ebanks is also keen on getting this done.  Not only because he is a minister with goals, but because he is also a road user himself, having the same experience as others going to and from the eastern districts.

Next steps

The NRA's board of directors will now be in a holding pattern until Howard, the NRA boss can complete his liaison with the DoE, EAB, consultants, members of the public and any other stakeholders in order to ensure that the East West arterial is completed within the current term of the new government.

In the meantime, stakeholders are encouraged to attend public meetings being held by the NRA or listen to the livestream meetings, making any questions or feedback known at that time or later by email to nra@nra.ky.

Flow chart set out in the Directive outlining steps for the EIA for the East West arterial road

woolumtheausted86.blogspot.com

Source: https://cayman.loopnews.com/content/paperwork-delaying-completion-east-west-arterial-road

Share this post