Car Park rehabilitation expected to resume this year

Work on the Sunshine Car Park is expected to resume later this year.

Minister of ICTs Melford Nicholas was giving an update on the prospective move of state media ABS when he made the comments.

ABS is expected to take up a permanent residency at the car park.

“Well, there are going to be two phases to it. One is going to be the immediate relief. The teams here, including yourselves have given incredible service to the country by the high quality work that you continue to produce and the environment here in which you are obliged to operate is far less than what I would feel comfortable, and so I tip my hat off to the management team and all the staff who have continued to work in this environment.

“So, right now at this moment, the Ministry of Public Works is completing the engagement with the proprietors of Caribbean Cinemas, and we will make that first initial move. While that move has taken place, we have now the technical information that we wanted from the consultant to start the build-up of the permanent home for ABS at the Sunshine Car Park Huband that, again, is an undertaking that will be led by Public Works and I expect ABS to be in new quarters, certainly within the third quarter, at the end of the third quarter but certainly before the end of the year,” Nicholas said.

“I would expect, too, that the rehabilitation of the Sunshine Car Park Hub would start this year as well. It’s going to take a while to build it out, but I expect both events to take place this year,” he added.

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.

The multi-level car park, initially constructed under the former United Progressive Party (UPP) administration, has been idle for years.

Originally designed to ease parking congestion in the capital, the structure has remained unused due to reported structural deficiencies.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne criticized the previous administration for what he described as poor planning and execution, suggesting that the facility was not built to the necessary standards.

However, opposition members argue that the government has had ample time to address any deficiencies and complete the project.