Kenicia Francis
The Barbuda Council has built a new facility to house port officers, and they have enacted several new safety measures to govern the docks where ferries land.
The new measures stipulate that there will not be any parking permitted on the dock, with only a limited number of people being allowed to drop-off or pick-up passengers and/or goods and services.
They must then exit on completion.
People are to park outside of the port away from the entrance and roadway until allowed entry.
Port agents will now be stationed at the new facility and will be guiding port users on the drop-off and pick-up procedures.
Also, heavy duty machinery will not be permitted to operate on the dock or surrounding areas while ferry passengers are present.
Chairman of the Barbuda Council Devon Warner stated, “It’s a necessary move, especially at this time, with regards to the influx of people that are going to be moving back and forth between Antigua over the next couple of days.”
He added that, “This measure is not going to be short-lived. It’s one that’s going to continue so that we can maintain control of this port. It’s important for these measures to be put in place to protect not only lives, but also equipment.”
There’s also a plan to upgrade the entire dock area to maximise security with an added aesthetic bonus.
Warner explained, “We’re going to remove all the tanks and clean-up. We’re doing a complete facelift of the whole area.”
The tanks referenced are old structures that were used to store fuel for APUA, but they’re no longer in use.
He also told Observer that there hasn’t been any significant pushback with all of the new measures put in place.
“If you get basically one percent pushback, that is not considered as any pushback. I think people are just comforted that we’re trying to maintain some order. We’re trying to ensure you don’t have a mixture of heavy-duty trucks and pedestrians, or taxis, or just people going to collect cargo from the ferry and stuff like that. Previously, you had trains operating, people disembarking the ferry. That was really dangerous. Now that does not happen until all the people who use the ferry have cleared the port. Then that kind of heavy port work can proceed.” he said.
“We’ve lost a lot of control of how things are happening in Barbuda since Irma. Of course, this will happen when you have disaster capitalism being the order of the day. The local authority would lose some control and we have lost some. We’re now trying to regain it as best as possible. It’s going to take planning and proper execution to do that, and that is how we’re approaching things right now.” he continued.
In closing, he told Observer, “The ultimate goal is to operate like any port anywhere in the world, where you have control over the movement of people. Immigration is able to function the way they’re supposed to. The police, the port officers, everybody just working together to ensure that the facility functions the way it’s supposed to. At the moment, we’re looking at four officers to kick-start the process, but over a period of time we’re looking to engage a security firm to control this, and work with our port officers. Just like in Antigua, you go to the port, to the Deepwater Harbor, there are security officers there, your port personnel and everything. So, we’re looking to implement exactly that type of system in Barbuda.”
