Rebuilding the cruise-ship jetty at Spotts Landing will not start until at least late autumn or early winter — and possibly not until next spring.

The Planning Department says it has never received any paperwork for the project, and will require approximately two months to study the plans before sending it to the Central Planning Authority for adjudication.

Meanwhile, the main contractor for the $3 million construction, the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), has said it does not want to disrupt operations at Spotts during the tourist season, roughly between October and March; meaning work at the jetty may not start before April 2012.

The pier is used chiefly during hurricane season, between 1 June and 1 December as an emergency alternate to George Town when storms make the chief anchorage unsafe.

Originally, officials had predicted rebuilding the jetty, approximately 12 feet wide and nearly 150 feet long, at the end of July, but work never started as government said contracts had not been made final.

Haroon Pandohie, director of the Department of Planning, told iNews that no paperwork had been filed on the project.

“We have seen nothing. We have not seen any plans, nothing has been submitted to us,” he said.

Describing the approval process, Mr Pandohie said any plans faced a lengthy assessment process, starting with a 21-day call for public input.

“It really depends on the application and what we are dealing with,” he said. “It starts with a 21-day period when we consult with other agencies, get feedback and complete a report.

“If there are any issues, we may need to deal with a request for additional information, and that usually takes [another] 21 days. Then, after we complete all the reports, it goes to the board [the Central Planning Authority].”

The three-month construction will expand the Spotts existing facilities to include a customs office, rest rooms, a reception area, a widened dock and new upland areas, including roads, a parking area and a large shade area.

CHEC, which has already advanced to the government the $3 million cost of the project, told iNews that the group was working on “preliminary elements” of the project including topographical studies, research and environmental assessments, but declined to set a date for groundbreaking.

The Spotts dock is the smallest of three proposed seafront projects CHEC is studying – George Town cruise-ship berths and a landing pier at the Cayman Turtle Farm.