The 2023 edition of Antigua Carnival officially gets underway today, but many streets and sidewalks in and around St John’s are still very much in need of repairs and upgrades.
The country’s capital and lone major city has been in a state of dilapidation for several years, and despite ceaseless complaints from persons who ply their trade within its borders and visit for other purposes, relatively little has been done to alleviate concerns about safety and optics.
Every now and again, stories are told about persons – even tourists from time to time – falling into an uncovered manhole or broken sidewalk.
Imagine the thousands of people, many of whom are likely to be inebriated at some point, who are therefore at risk during Carnival?
These issues do not only affect pedestrians, as some roads in the city are also plagued with potholes that seem to worsen with each passing shower of rain.
And if the safety concerns were not enough, the visuals paint a picture of “poverty, regression and sufferation” (according to one angry call-in radio show commentator) – characteristics unbecoming of a successful tourism-centred country like Antigua and Barbuda.
Enter Works Minister, Maria Browne. Fresh off her success in the January 18 elections and her absorption of the Works portfolio – vacated by former Minister, Lennox Weston – Browne pledged work to ensure that the city was safe and better-looking for the Carnival season.
Browne spoke candidly about the poor state of the infrastructure during the budget debate back in March, following a walkthrough of the city alongside Tourism Minister, Charles Fernandez.
“The conditions are deplorable and it needs urgent addressing. There are many hazardous areas that need urgent intervention,” she told the Parliament then.
She later promised that work would increase as Carnival inched closer, but while some issues have been addressed, there is still much more to be done.
Nevis Street alone currently has about three uncovered manholes and a couple of broken sections of the sidewalk, while Corn Alley is riddled with similar conditions. Close to, or the exact same, can be said about Long Street, High Street and even Redcliffe Street – one of the most frequently traversed roadways in the city.
Though Carnival opens today, the ‘meat of the matter’ – the much-anticipated road march – is still a few days away, which means there is some time for the Works Ministry to scale up its promised work.
It is unclear, however, whether plans are in place for that to happen. Efforts to reach Browne for comment on the matter proved futile up to news time.
