PM Browne Gives Update on Work at Sunshine Car Park

The sunshine car park which has been a topic of major contention in the country remains unfinished.

But Prime Minister Gaston Browne gave some brief updates on where his administration is in taking on the task which has plagued previous administrations.

He spoke briefly during Parliament on the matter.

“We are aware that NAMCO has done some cleaning up and they are about to raise some monies so that they can commence the [work]. I am told a portion of the car park is significantly compromised so there is some engineering that have been done now to determine how we move forward.

“I would imagine that after we get the necessary reports probably within a matter of maybe 90 days or so you can see us commencing the continued work at the car park with the hope that it can finish in due course,” PM Browne explained.

NAMCO had shared plans to renovate the northern side of the Sunshine Car Park.

Following years of delays and false starts, the Cabinet in October of last year met with an architect to chart a path forward for the undeveloped asset located in close proximity to the East Bus Station.

The lower floor will be allocated to the Antigua and Barbuda Broadcasting Service (ABS), providing the permanent home for the media entity.

Additionally, the ground floor of the northern section has been assigned to PDV Caribe, which has been housed in a building on Long Street.

The Sunshine Hub has been a challenging project for NAMCO since its million-dollar acquisition in 2015.

Resource constraints and other priorities, including the pandemic, had previously forced the company to divert funds to the construction of the 5th cruise ship berth for the St John’s Development Corporation.