A planned £80m redevelopment of Douglas harbour has nothing to do with a possible shake-up of ferry services, the Chief Minister has insisted.

Construction of an £11m cruise berth on the outer side of an extended Victoria Pier is the centrepiece of a three-year programme of works for the harbour area.

Others works include £14.83m upgrades to the Kind Edward VIII Pier, windfarm support vessel pontoons, new breakwater and revetment costing £17.22m and a pleasure craft slip and holding area costing £6.98m.

The final year will see an upgrade to the tanker berth costing £15.55m, and upgrade to the Victoria Pier ro-ro berth costing £10.56m and a cruise tender berth costing £4.23m.

A harbour strategy, approved by Tynwald this week, appears to indicate the government is laying the groundwork for a shake-up of ferry services.

The accompanying technical information document refers to the enlarged harbour catering for a specific new vessel.

The Examiner reported in December that ministers were considering buying the Steam Packet.

But Chief Minister Howard Quayle said: ’These works need to be done anyway. It has nothing to do with the Steam Packet.

’Some of the harbour walls have been damaged over the years by the side-thrusters of boats and therefore need repair.

’Boats are getting bigger and it’s harder to find tankers small enough to offload oil.’

Mr Quayle said, while initially he had supported plans for a larger deep water cruise berth, extending the Victoria pier to accommodate smaller cruise ships offered better value for money.

He said: ’We will see how we get on with the smaller cruise ships. If we find passengers are spending a considerable amount then we can review the situation of spending taxpayers’ money on a deep water berth.’

The Chief Minister insisted a plan to buy a site for a new ferry terminal in Liverpool was ’good news’ despite costs rising to £30m-plus.

He said the move will allow the island to ’control its destiny’ with regard to ferry services.

Mr Quayle said the government was still in negotiations to purchase the land but was very close to agreement.

He said assurances had been secured from Liverpool City Council to fund a link road and bus connections to the new terminal.