Tynwald has backed a multi-million pound strategy to attract more cruise liners to the island.

But the £80m harbour redevelopment proposals, which include a £11m deep water berth in Douglas for visiting cruise vessels, were blasted by one MHK for lacking ambition.

Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer said there was no doubt the cruise market was rapidly growing and the island’s attraction was limited by the need for larger vessels to anchor in the bay with passengers brought ashore by tenders.

He said: ’I’m well aware some people feel the government should be more daring and go for more ambitious proposals to build a new breakwater beyond Princess Alexandra Pier to provide a deep water berth 450m long.

’With the largest cruise vessels in the world being slightly under 360m, this would allow any vessel to call now and into the foreseeable future. Building such a development would be very expensive and would require significant new infrastructure.’

Instead, the Department of Infrastructure is proposing a ’more modest approach as a first step’, with a 240m deep water berth alongside an extended Victoria Pier, said Mr Harmer.

But he added: ’I absolutely assure you I’m not ruling out investment in a larger facility if the cruise business takes off, as I hope it will.’

Douglas East MHK Chris Robertshaw said the three-year strategy should have been something he could support but it had been ’mishandled’ and the case for a larger deep water berth ’misrepresented’.

He claimed the recent presentations to Tynwald members had been ’biased and partial’. ’There’s not been any consultation,’ he claimed.

Mr Harmer said much of the infrastructure in the island’s harbours is ageing and in need of at least maintenance and in some case significant improvement.

He said that improvements would allow Douglas harbour to handle bigger ships up to 142m in length, which is the maximum that can dock at Heysham. The current tanker jetty could also be expanded to cope with larger vessels bringing in liquid fuel and compressed gas.

He said that with concerns that some of the smaller vessels we currently rely on will soon stop operating in the Irish Sea, this was an improvement that ’really has to be made’.

A consultant’s report recommends improvements to Victoria Pier used by the fast craft Manannan but not investment in the linkspan itself which is owned by the Steam Packet.

Mr Harmer said the linkspan is likely to require replacing in the next decade or so at a cost of about £10m.