Following the formal submission of 5,305 signatures from registered voters to Cabinet Wednesday, which met the constitutional requirement for a people’s vote of 25% of the electorate, the campaigners are calling on all ministers to make “full disclosure of all pertinent information on the proposed cruise berthing facility before the referendum”.

The activists are concerned that as the campaign for the referendum gets underway, voters will not get access to the right information to help them make an informed decision. The CPR group is also urging government to ensure fairness and equity in the process, including when the referendum will be held and the drafting of the question.

A major source of concern at present is that numerous reports and crucial information about the project have still not been released, even though government announced its preferred bidder and winning design over seven weeks ago.

The campaigners said the public needs to see the revised cruise berthing and cargo port design showing the numerical data to quantify the footprint, including the dredge area, concrete area and location relative to the surrounding marine ecosystems, as well as more details on the pilings.

They have also asked government to release the final updated business case report, including the projections for passenger arrivals and the details and conditions in the drafted contract with the Verdant Isle group, which won the bid.

The environmental issues regarding this project remain at the top of the list of concerns for many voters, and the campaigners are urging government to release the results of any geo-technical studies that have been done so far, the updated environmental impact assessment and any other studies relating to the threats posed by the project to the local marine habitat.

Where these are not yet completed, the activists said, government needs to provide a timeline of when the public will get to see these critically important documents.

CPR has also asked government to state its position on the recent concerns raised by the scientists at the CCMI, which have added to the environmental concerns. The coral experts warned that the project poses a threat to Seven Mile Beach and pointed out that the relocation of the coral under threat in George Town Harbour as a result of the project will be all but impossible.

Given the need to protect the interest of the public purse from penalties and potential lawsuits for breach of contract, the campaigners said they also want to see the force majeure clauses that benefit Verdant Isle and financiers of the project.

The campaigners said the government needs to reveal the details of what will happen in the event of a decline in cruise passenger arrivals over the 25-year term of the public-private partnership and loan facility, a global recession, or a hurricane or other natural disaster.