Capital developments in Cayman's infrastructure have continued but in 2025, an election year, it is unlikely there will be any further major projects started or finished, until a new government has coalesced from the primoradial soup of Cayman's post-election melting pot. Meanwhile, severe traffic congestion, overcrowded schools and hospitals with not enough beds for patients, all indicate significant strain due to rapid population growth in the last two years.
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There were a number of capital projects, announced by successive variations of the current Government, that were designed to improve the Island's infrastructure and quality of life for residents and the standard of facilities for visitors. The problem is that with constant ministerial changes and infighting at the top level of the administration, a lot of planning ultimately amounted to well, not much.
The long term goal of the original UPM Government was to attract new businesses and investment, and create jobs for Caymanians. In December 2023, the then Premier announced a move to finance a range of infrastructure projects, to be paid for by borrowing a further $150 million and implement a package of tax and fee increases.
The key element of the government's spending plan was a considerable school building programme, which would have included the construction of two new high schools, one in Cayman Brac and the other in West Bay, as well as new classrooms at the Lighthouse School, and the next phase of redevelopment of the John Gray High School.
To finance these ambitious projects, along with borrowing, the intention was to raise revenue through a variety of measures including the increase of fees paid to the Government across several departments including corporate fees and immigration.
The proposed new Infrastructure spending earmarks were:
Environment
- Acquiring land for farming and conservation: $7.6 million
- Using funds from the Environmental Protection Fund to purchase land for recreation or conservation, including beaches: $10 million
Community Development and Safety:
- Investing in prison facilities: $11.6 million
Public Spaces and Recreational Facilities:
- Central Scranton Park project and upgrades to other parks and jetties: $20.4 million
Road Infrastructure:
- Expanding and maintaining the road network: $28.6 million
Education:
- Expanding school facilities: $65.8 million
Whilst its true that several projects did get underway to some degree, it remains to be seen what projects from this list, if any, will be prioritised by the new Government, who will be elected in April 2025.
Take a look at the current state of developments as they stand in the key sectors of Healthcare, Transport, Waste Management, and the George Town revitalisation project, as we come to the end of the current government's administrative term.
Health City Camana Bay
Health City Cayman Islands, which established a 110-bed hospital in East End in 2014, has now constructed a new US$100+ million super-specialty hospital in Camana Bay.
The new facility features a dedicated cancer care centre, maternity and neonatal intensive care unit, emergency pavilion, critical care unit and emergency, multi-specialty programme, including an expansion on robotic-assisted surgery, which was introduced to the Island by Health City for the first time last year. In March 2023, the hospital’s Radiation Oncology Centre opened, and gave life-saving treatment to its first patients on May 17th, 2023. The new 70,000sq ft hospital and level 1 trauma centre was inaugurated in July of 2024. The new hospital and remaining facilities are now fully operational as of December 2024. You can learn more here.
Nearby, Dart plans to establish a new centre of health and wellness near the Health City Cayman Islands medical campus, in Camana Bay. The purpose-built three-story structure, scheduled to open in 2026, aims to create a convenient environment for health and wellness services by bringing various experts under one roof. The goal is to meet local healthcare needs, aiming to enhance accessibility for residents and tourists. The Centre, positioned near George Town and Seven Mile Beach, will include amenities like a cafe and wellness offerings, forming a healthcare hub alongside the new Health City facility.
Active Dart Projects
The Dart Group has been building and developing property in Cayman since 2005. With Olea, Kapok, and 60 Nexus Way now completed, new projects for Dart are in the pipeline.
Development of the Hyatt Site
The Central Planning Authority has approved Dart's $5 million redevelopment project of the site which was all but destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. This initial phase will effectively be an extension arm of existing property Palm Heights, serving as a boutique hotel, restaurant, pool facility, and creative workspace, with future phases including renovations of other structures. The development aims to create a blend of traditional hospitality rooms, creative spaces, and fluid multi-purpose areas. Dart seeks to attract a diverse local and international clientele, including celebrities, and create job opportunities in hospitality and property management.
Airport Connector Road (ACR)
The first phase of the Airport Connector Road (ACR), a project initially awarded to Dart in February 2020, is now open, though the remaining phase from Industrial Park to Owen Roberts International Airport will not start construction until sometime in 2025. At the moment, the road stretches from the Esterley Tibbetts Highway to the Water Authority Sewage Treatment Plant. Despite significant costs, including the contract to Dart with a face value in excess of three quarters of a million dollars not including additional expenses for culverts and fill, this first, albeit short, section is open after almost four years of construction.
Hotel Indigo
Hotel Indigo is a new boutique-style hotel recently opened with much fanfare, located on Seven Mile Beach. It is offering 282 guest rooms, many with a sea view, multiple dining venues, an extensive pool deck, 6,500 square-foot ballroom, a gym, spa, business center and kids club. There is also an exclusive, reservation-only rooftop bar with 360 degrees views. The design features local materials and artwork, and focuses on cuisine crafted from fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
Grand Hyatt & Kailani
Kailani Grand Cayman Curio Collection is a Hilton brand property. The new business boutique hotel, located at the southern end of Seven Mile Beach, is a collection of rooms, suites and residences with a focus on health and wellness concepts.
The massive and aptly named Grand Hyatt is nearing completion for a late 2025 or early 2026 opening. The development, located on Pageant Beach, purportedly will include six restaurants, three resort-style swimming pools, a 12,000-square-foot spa and fitness centre, and a 25,000 sq. ft. indoor-outdoor conference meeting space.
Owen Roberts International Airport
Infrastructure development plans continue at Owen Roberts International Airport. Already approved by Government, albeit controversial projects include a $28 million extension of the runway by 340 meters, and the addition of a 240-meter safety zone into the North Sound, much to the chagrin of nearby property owners, not to mention the odd plant, bird and fish. Also proposed at ORIA is a $42 million reconstruction of the General Aviation Terminal for private jets. The remaining element of the plans is less controversial: the modernisation of the air traffic control systems, (est. $4.7 m).
Work on the runway safety area at Charles Kirkconnell International Airport on Cayman Brac, (est. $1.1 m) will widen the runway by 75 meters but will intrude upon the wetlands on its southern side in doing so, hence this scheme is also not without its dissenters.
Construction on all the above is yet to start, but funding would come from two potential sources: an airport terminal tax of $5 and an ‘airport development’ fee of $15 per passenger.
As of June 2024, the Government is inviting bids from private entities to carry out the Environmental Impact Assessments needed in order to proceed. It would seem, not surprisingly, that each of the planning proposals for the airports, championed by Tourism minister Kenneth Bryan MP, potentially come with the risk of upsetting the wildlife habitats and other current residents of the surrounding areas.
The most contentious of the remaining proposals is the relocation of the airfield on Little Cayman. The CIAA has decided to relocate the airfield to the Island's centre and this plan has been met with strong opposition from residents, who are concerned that moving the airfield will jeopardise the Island's complex wildlife ecosystem.
What effect the General Election of April 2025 will have on all these proposals is not clear, but its not unthinkable that priorities may shift inwards to the existing welfare of Islanders instead of visitors, post election.
George Town Revitalisation Project
The last phase of the Central Business District Enhancement Project, part of the George Town Revitalisation Initiative led by the Ministry of Planning, Agriculture, Housing & Infrastructure is complete as of February 2025.
The George Town Post Office intersection and underground infrastructure on Edward Street, Main Street, and Shedden Road has been partially pedestrianised and upgraded, following the partial pedestrianisation and beautification of Cardinal Avenue. The project goal was to enhance the city's appeal and accessibility but has proven controversial due to time overruns, and detrimental to local businesses due to the disruption caused by construction.
Visitors will have to make up their own minds as to whether the disruption was indeed worth it.
Major Road Works & Expansions
The CI Government are trying to address traffic concerns and improve the road infrastructure. Commuters are increasingly frustrated with rush-hour congestion, a problem exacerbated by the rapid expansion of residential areas outpacing road development.
As of March 2025, there are several NRA projects ongoing. The realignment and widening of Crewe Road (westbound and eastbound from Grand Harbour) commenced in June of 2024. This is the next stage of a multi-phase development that involves increasing lane capacity on the primary Grand Harbour arterials and their intersections. The area has long been considered a bottleneck, and the main cause of rush hour traffic for commuters coming from the eastern districts. But with 28,000 vehicles expected to be passing through the area by 2036 (which is a 57% increase on the current amount), the challenge is huge.
Other current NRA projects include:
- A two to six lane increase of the Linford Pierson Highway, with a connecting road from Outpost Street. Much of this upgrade is now in operation
- The extension and beautification of Godfrey Nixon Way, in keeping with a ‘neighbourhood’ theme with a landscaped median connecting Eastern Avenue to the main George Town area
- The Airport Connector Road (ACR) linking the roundabout by Cayman International School with Sparky’s Drive in Industrial Park. Phase 1 is now complete, with Phase 2 to begin construction shortly (see above: Dart Projects)
- The East-West Arterial Road lane expansion in Prospect, which is completed, and the extension from Hirst Road to Breakers. The newest section from Hirst Road though to Agricola drive opened in March 2025. The next phase is currently in planning.
You can find out more about these and other projects by visiting www.caymanroads.com.
Submarine Cabling Upgrades
The Liberty and MAYA-1 subsea cables which provide approximately 99% of the Island's digital communications to the outside world, through Jamaica and the US respectively, are both well over 20 years old and moving towards the end of their service life. In November 2023, the Governement announced that the Ministry of Planning, Agriculture, Housing & Infrastructure has enlisted the expertise of a project delivery team, at a cost of $1.39 million, to manage the upgrades of these ageing sytems. In a strategic partnership with Cambridge Management Consultants, specializing in subsea cable projects, and collaborating with WFN Strategies, an independent telecommunications engineering services provider based in Virginia, US, the Ministry aims to benefit from their combined knowledge in project planning, system procurement, and project execution. SBM International, based in Cayman, will also play a lead role in this collaborative effort.
Unfortunately, it was announced in March of 2024 that the project is currently stalled as cost estimates far exceed expectations, dividing the government on the viability of the scheme.
In January of 2025, it is currently unclear in what form the project will move forward, if at all.
Public Bus Service Improvements
In April 2023, Deloitte published a report on the Cayman Islands' public bus system, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism and Transport. The report found that the current system is "fragmented, inefficient, and unsustainable," and that it is failing to meet the needs of the community.
Deloitte's recommendations include:
Scrapping the current private bus service and replacing it with a government-run public bus network. This would give the government greater control over the system and allow it to implement more efficient operations.
- Investing in new buses and infrastructure. This would improve the reliability and comfort of the service, and make it more attractive to riders
- Larger buses with amenities like personal item space, WiFi, and accessibility features for disabled individuals
- Creation of bus lanes and more official bus stops with WiFi
- Potential establishment of district depots with various amenities like shelter, surveillance, lighting, and security
- Ensuring easy access for customers with physical disabilities
- Deployment of customer service representatives at bus stops and depots
- Facilitation of comprehensive online or advance payment options
- Ensuring reliability by adhering to predefined schedules
- Expanding the bus network to cover more areas
Deloitte estimates that the cost of implementing these recommendations would be between $25 million and $30 million but the benefits outweigh the costs.
The report found that a public bus system would have a number of positive impacts on the Cayman Islands, including:
- Reduced traffic congestion and air pollution.
- Improved access to education and employment opportunities for low-income residents.
- Increased tourism revenue.
- Greater social inclusion.
It is still not clear what plans the Government has to implement these recommendations, merely stating the report, which cost $200,000, has been passed to UK experts. With the General Election about to dominate the political landscape in April of 2025, the issue of public transportation will undoubtedly be a feature of many a campaign. Whether an actual solution is provided by any new government in a timely fashion remains to be seen. A bit like waiting for a bus...
Waste Management
Bin There, Dumped That: ReGen Goes Rotten
ReGen represents the waste-to-energy plant and recycling infrastructure essential for establishing a comprehensive, eco-friendly solid waste management system in the Cayman Islands. In 2017, the Cayman Islands Government designated a consortium led by Dart as the favoured entity to oversee the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of the various state-of-the-art facilities needed. In 2021, the preceding administration finalised a project agreement with the Dart-led consortium, marking a pivotal project milestone. However, several substantial matters remained to be resolved before the project’s financial agreement could be reached. A completion date of 30th September 2023 was published, then December 2023, and as of March 2024, no agreement was made.
The timeline of the Cayman Islands ReGen project, click to expand
By that point, several deadlines had already been missed for finalising the project. Discussions had just about plodded on, and were regularly halted for a range of issues, since the Dart-led consortium had won the bid seven years before. Meanwhile, the landfill space continued to grow (and intermittently catch fire,) amid Cayman's residential and commercial disposal of waste. By March 2024, alternative sites were being explored in the event that the current dump reached full capacity. By mid-2024 the negotiations had completely broken down and both parties began attempts to extricate themselves from any final obligations made upon the signing of the original agreement. As of March 2025, no further updates have been provided. It is likely that the proverbial garbage can has been kicked down the road by the remnants of the UPM government for the next administration to deal with.
At the same time, The Department of Environmental Health's ability to manage trash dumping is becoming more and more limited.
