$100,000 earmarked for Nawiliwili Harbor improvement plans

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $100,000 for the Army Corps of Engineers to plan improvements to Nawiliwili Harbor on Kaua’i.

The money will be used to update a 31-year-old reconnaissance report and study what needs to be done to allow Nawiliwili to accommodate larger cruise ships, according to Alexander Kufel, a spokesman for Corps of Engineers’ Honolulu district office.

The report will outline what’s needed to accommodate larger cruise ships, and assess the feasibility of making improvements designed to allow easier access in and out of the harbor for ships larger than what the harbor was originally designed for.

The committee-approved allocation, if it makes it through Congress, won’t do any good when the 965-foot-long Norwegian Star begins scheduled weekly calls to Nawiliwili or Port Allen in mid-December. But it does signal acknowledgment at the highest level of government that improvements are needed at Nawiliwili Harbor.

Built to accommodate ships 650 feet long, the harbor now plays host to much larger cruise ships, while being inhospitable to others because of potentially hazardous conditions. Some ships as large as the Norwegian Star have for safety reasons refused to enter the harbor and negotiate the intricate “S” turn to get to the pier.

The Senate committee approval of the appropriation was announced by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawai’i) as part of the fiscal year 2002 Departments of Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. It has several more steps before becoming law.

The Norwegian Star, a new ship which Norwegian Cruise Lines said was designed specifically for Hawai’i inter-island cruising, can carry 2,240 passengers and a crew of 1,100.

It is scheduled to call on Nawiliwili or Port Allen Harbor each Saturday beginning Dec. 22, staying from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).