Government and Browne sisters reach agreement in Booby-Alley land purchase

Desiree and Dawn Browne have signed a bilateral agreement with the government of Antigua and Barbuda to sell their parcel of land in the Point area for the Booby Alley Social Housing project.

On September 18th, a resolution was passed in the Lower House of Parliament to acquire the 0.05-acre land for $144,000.

However, during the Senate this morning, Leader of Government Business, Samantha Marshall, informed that a resolution has been reached between both parties. As a result, the matter has been struck off from the Senate’s agenda.

“I was advised this morning [Wednesday] by a senior government representative, that there is a bilateral agreement between the parties which, therefore, no longer requires this matter to proceed.

“This would have been a situation where we would have been acquiring for the completion of the Booby Alley project, but the parties have now entered into an agreement of sale which I have also been advised will be fulfilled within 14 days of today”, Marshall told the Senate.

The construction of 150 two-bedroom units, worth EC$100 million, was planned to begin in 2018.

However, the project has encountered several obstacles such as protests from the residents and legal battles to remove some of the remaining inhabitants from the area.

The housing project will be funded through a grant from the People’s Republic of China.

The Chinese technical team had informed the government that the property was not initially a part of the project, but it had to be removed to facilitate the temporary design they had done at the time.

Prime Minister Browne had expressed his concern in Parliament that if the acquisition of the parcel of land where the project was to be built was not finalized soon, there was a possibility that the government could lose the project.