Who does one contact to get potholes sorted/the road re-surfaced? Is there a petition-type process to get one’s road re-surfaced, besides having some dignitary live on your street? On a slightly related point, in terms of damage to one’s vehicle as a result of these monster potholes, does the NRA have any sort of liability, once informed of the road damage?
Auntie’s answer: If you want to get potholes repaired, a National Roads Authority official tells me they are the people to contact. They can be reached by phone (946-7780), by email (nra@nra.ky) or by post (PO Box 10426, Grand Cayman KY1-1004). I am going out on a limb and assuming that the list for pothole repair is long so I would recommend contacting the NRA as soon as possible.
The process for getting a road repaired is more involved. This requires writing a formal letter to the Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure (under which the NRA falls) requesting the said repair. The mailing address for the ministry, which is located on the fifth floor of the Government Administration Building, is PO Box 107, Grand Cayman KY1-9000. If you want to reach out to an actual person for help, the telephone number is 244-2412.
As for your question on liability, I think you should take that up with a lawyer. But, for what it’s worth, (and bearing in mind this is free advice) my completely unprofessional take on whether the NRA would be liable for damage to your car would be that it would be tricky at best to win that case. For one thing, what if your car gets damaged the day after informing the NRA of the pothole? It doesn’t seem reasonable to expect a repair to happen that fast. I’ll leave all the rest of the possibilities to an actual legal mind.
In my opinion, most of the roads in Cayman are in seriously poor condition. Even parts of the recently constructed Esterly Tibbetts Highway show wear after only a few years of use. In addition, I’m told many roads don’t actually belong to the CIG. Those roads were constructed by developers and actually are owned by them with easements for adjacent property owners. Therefore repair is the responsibility of property owners, not the NRA, if my information is correct.
Cayman has a serious problem, and it will only get worse as more and more public roads are build or expanded. Perhaps the government should dedicate revenue from gasoline taxes exclusively to roads and road infrastructure. Not sure, but CIG can only ignore the problems so long.
The NRA enjoys a broad immunity from liability under section 32 of the NRA Law (2006 Revision):
“32. Neither the Authority, nor any director or employee of the Authority, shall be liable in damages for anything done or omitted in the discharge or purported discharge of their respective functions, responsibilities, powers and duties under
this Law unless it is shown that the act or omission was in bad faith.”
Good luck getting anything done. I purchased a property in Frank Sound last May and the road was in such bad disrepair (potholes and trees in the centre of the road) I couldn’t drive to my plot. I contacted the proper “authorities” at NRA and was told “maybe they will look at it sometime in the summer of 2018”. Over 1 year now and not able to access my property. The funny thing is when they came to me for the stamp duty and I said “maybe I’ll pay it sometime in the summer 0f 2018” I was told that was unacceptable and I will be fined. Welcome to Cayman.