PM Browne outlines $150 million in Barbuda projects, defends land policy at rally

Prime Minister Gaston Browne has outlined approximately $150 million in infrastructure and development projects earmarked for Barbuda, while defending his administration’s land policy during a public rally in support of Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) candidate Kendra Beazer.

Browne told the Barbuda rally last night that funding had been secured across multiple sectors, including road infrastructure, a new cargo port, a primary school, airport terminal upgrades and an expansion of the island’s renewable energy plant.

The Prime Minister said $50 million had been allocated, with $35 million of that amount approved by the Caribbean Development Bank.

He said contracts were being prepared for local contractors to begin the work.

“They’ve already met with a number of contractors and contracts are being prepared to give to these contractors in order to deal with the road infrastructure,” Browne said. “That is just the start.”

The Prime Minister announced that $10 million would be spent on constructing a new primary school in Barbuda, with $4 million of that total provided through a grant he said he negotiated with the former president of the Dominican Republic following Hurricane Irma.

According to Browne, $1.5 million of the grant has already been deposited.

A new cargo port facility costing approximately $20 million is also planned, Browne said, with funding partly drawn from Murbee Limited, the development company behind a planned high-end hotel at Dulcina.

The Prime Minister said Murbee would contribute nearly $14 million to the port project.

He explained that the facility needed to be relocated from its original position at River Dock because the site had been assessed as unsustainable.

“We were advised since 2018 after the hurricane that the facility there at River was not a sustaining one and that we had to do something about it,” Browne told the rally.

The Prime Minister also said his administration was in discussions with the government of India to secure approximately $10 million to expand Barbuda’s renewable energy plant, which he said his government had originally constructed and which now supplies most of the island’s electricity.

On aviation, Browne said approximately $8 million remaining from an FCIB airport loan would be reprogrammed to construct a new airport terminal in Barbuda, replacing what he described as temporary facilities.

Addressing the long-running dispute over land rights in Barbuda, Browne argued that the 2007 Barbuda Land Act passed under the previous United Progressive Party administration was unconstitutional because it required both grandparents of an applicant to be Barbudan.

He further contended that the Act’s “ownership in common” provision was never legally effected because it would have required a referendum that was never held.

The Prime Minister said the current policy offers Barbudans the option of leasehold or freehold title for $1 but does not compel any resident to take up the offer.

He said discussions with Beazer had included the possibility of placing large tracts of Barbudan land in a trust, potentially retaining 25,000 acres in the trust while allocating 5,000 acres for freehold title.

The Prime Minister said he was committed to placing Beazer in Cabinet as a minister if elected, arguing that this would give Barbuda direct representation at the decision-making table.

He also pledged further investment in the Hannah Thomas Hospital to reduce the frequency with which Barbudans must travel to Antigua’s Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre for treatment.