One can find a certain amount of sympathy for the owners of the Alexander Hotel in Cayman Brac. They have invested a sizeable amount of money in the venture and they are struggling to keep the hotel open because they say, quite rightly, the stench from the Salt Water Pond next door is turning off tourists.

However, the Salt Water Pond was there a very long time before the hotel was built alongside it.

When the pond dries up, the sludge emits a strong and odious smell. It has for years. It has been no secret.

So why did Cleveland Dilbert, owner of the Alexander Hotel, not take this into account when he embarked on his costly investment?

That is a good question and there may be a good answer.

Dilbert wants to transform part of Salt Water Pond into a marina for visiting yachts that would involve cutting a channel through the reef and dredging part of the pond to develop the Brac’s first safe harbour.

However, the marina is “not intended for profit of BDC Ltd or its shareholders”, Dilbert stated in a letter accompanying a strategic outline case that was presented to Cabinet on 4 November 2013. He said it was, “intended for the betterment and welfare of the people of Cayman Brac and the island’s economy”.

Very noble of him. Can you hear the applause?

But wait a minute. Public funds will be needed too. Large public funds.

An alternative route around the north side of the pond, connecting Rebecca’s Cave Road with Bluff Boulevard will have to be constructed by government. There is also no guarantee the project if it did get the go-ahead will be completed as planned.

The horrible smell, though, will go away and the Alexander Hotel will be full of happy guests who can sit out happily at the pool bar, spend lots of cash and everyone is smiling now.

Apart from the smell Dilbert has another major problem. Cayman’s Department of Environment has advised it believes the project is so “fundamentally flawed” and “demonstrably damaging to the environment” that an environmental impact assessment would not be worth the expense. And the government is insisting quite rightly they want one BEFORE any decision is taken by government.

Now who would benefit the most from all of this, if it got the go ahead?

Dilbert also told government that if he didn’t get the green light he would have to close the hotel down. According to him the hotel has only an average 25% occupancy and the owners have to invest around CI $150,000 each year to keep it going.

The application to government was also incomplete in other key areas that included how with an excavator having only a 40ft reach could, with a single jetty, form a 100-foot wide channel?

Dilbert is crying “foul” before he has even kicked the ball. There is no guarantee he says that even after he submits his required environmental assessment the project will be approved. So he wants a goal given to him and the points before he actually attempts the shot.

He thinks it is unreasonable to expect him to spend up to $500,000 for the assessment with no guarantee of approval first.

That is not how it works or should work. This is a different government you are dealing with.

He claimed that before he built the hotel, landowners had been given assurances by government something would be done about the pond’s stench. He did know it stank he admitted and he did know the pond was a habitat for West Indian whistling ducks before it was strangely declassified as an animal sanctuary by legislators in 2012.

So Dilbert immediately getting government’s answer he sent out letters to his 14 employees the hotel would close.

I have to ask if this was just a ploy of political blackmail especially as the Deputy Premier and Tourism Minister is the first elected member from the Sister Islands, Moses Kirkconnell?

Kirkconnell said, “The Alexander Hotel is a very important part of our tourism product in Cayman Brac and we are talking about how we can work through this.”

Dilbert has also backtracked a little saying he still wants to keep the hotel open.

I cannot see how the stench of the pond can go away without a major environmental change.

If there is, then something else smells besides the pond.