Splash by Bob Duerr !
Ala Wai Harbor Proposals Bomb
A DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) request for proposals (RFP) to develop four parcels at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor bombed out with all bidders rejected. The RFP was a second attempt to redeem a previously failed RFP redevelopment award to Honey Bee USA, a Japanese company, which went bankrupt in 2016, still owing the state $500,000.
DOBOR has refused to release the details of the four rejected RFP bidders in a process that saw 27 parties showing interest. One of the parties wanted to put a 350-foot tall Ferris wheel and movie theater on the property.
The DOBOR development process is controversial among boaters who want the parcels to be used for boating support facilities like a fuel depot, haul-out, boatyard, chandlery and restaurant. Community activists complain about the lack of transparency with DOBOR’s public-private partnership efforts.
DTL Hawaii received a $99,885 no-bid contract from DOBOR in 2017 for public outreach on the RFP. Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D-Mililani Mauka, Waipi‘o Acres, Wheeler, Wahiawa, Whitmore Village, portion of Poamoho) and chair of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee, is DTL’s vice president for communications
