By Orville Williams
The much-anticipated upgrades to the Barbuda River Dock are in limbo, several months after a new ferry fee was established to raise money to fund them.
The Barbuda Council had long called for improvements to the dock facilities, including work on the dock structure itself and the construction of restroom facilities to serve both visitors and locals, and the fee – $5 for each leg of the journey between Antigua to Barbuda – was finally put in place in August last year.
The word from Council officials back then was that travellers were receptive to the small fee, which would be collected and held by the ferry operators before being handed over to the Council and vetted against their manifests.
The work, the officials said, could reasonably start in a matter of months, based on the amount collected and the required budget.
Since then, however, little has been said or done about the intended improvements.
“Nothing has been done since the discussions we had toward the end of last year,” Council Chair Mackenzie Frank told Observer recently.
“As you know, there’s been a general election, and the Port Authority people haven’t been back in touch with the Council to say when they’re going to proceed with the works.
“They were supposed to have sent us some drawings, but we still haven’t received [those] drawings. So, I don’t know whether the project is still ongoing, whether it was an election gimmick, or whether they’ve shelved it for the time being,” he added.
The Council Chair explained that, while the situation is not dire at this point, the upgrades could massively boost the River Dock’s operations and potentially attract more travellers on a daily basis.
When contacted at the time, Port Authority officials could not be reached for comment, but Frank explained that contact will be made with the body shortly to assess the situation.
“As you know, [the Barbuda Council] just had some elections and the Council has to be reconstituted – then, we will be able to touch base with them officially to find out what the schedule may be for the redevelopment of the dock,” he said.
The Barbuda Council has been reconstituted since Frank’s statement, during an executive meeting led by Barbuda MP, Trevor Walker, last week.
