By Robert A Emmanuel
For years, residents around the island have complained about the dilapidated properties that have housed vagrants and potential criminals, never mind being an eyesore for the tourism-reliant nation.
For many of those buildings and residential homes, their owners have migrated to larger countries, leaving behind land that is overgrown with weeds and pests.
However, a new law, expected to be brought before Parliament in 2024, will seek to address this issue, according to Attorney General Sir Steadroy Benjamin, and Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lionel Hurst.
The Attorney General, who spoke to Observer about the law last week, also reported to the Cabinet on Wednesday that the potential legislation will give the government temporary control over properties and land that have been abandoned.
It is expected that Works Minister Maria Browne will have the authority to beautify these plots of land and create mini-parks on the properties.
“When the persons come forward, let them pay; Antigua must be beautified. Our country is in a mess because of those properties left unattended, but we have a responsibility to maintain the beautification of our country,” Sir Steadroy told Observer last week.
During yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference, Hurst went into further detail about the proposed bill.
“The law is not fully crafted, but it will allow the government to step in and make sure that the neighbourhood is clean and without the kinds of threats to security and health that abandoned lands can cause,” Hurst said.
Residents in Nut Grove have long called for measures to be taken to remove an abandoned building that has been a known criminal hotspot, linked to numerous reports of rape and sexual assault.
During a town hall meeting in October, MP for the area, Daryll Matthew, promised imminent action, claiming that he just “wasn’t prepared to deal with it leading up to a general election”.
Meanwhile, the new law is expected to require property owners, where the government has to take control of the lands, to pay a fee if they wish to reclaim it.
“When the legislation is drafted, all the expenses that have been incurred in keeping the land or even removing the broken-down [structures] from the land and cleaning it, there will be some charges and those charges will be expected to be paid by the landowners,” Hurst said.
Legislative drafters have been asked to ensure that the bill does not violate the country’s Constitution, leading to lawsuits for the government.
Several abandoned properties over the years have also caught fire, which have demanded that the fire department take steps to prevent further damage to the area.
In the last two months, two fires – one on Cross Street and the other on St Mary’s Street – were at abandoned properties.
“What we have discovered is that many of these homeowners and owners of these plots do not live in Antigua.
“They are nationals of Antigua and Barbuda, but they’ve gone abroad, and their homes have deteriorated [and] in some instances, vagrants occupy these homes,” the Chief of Staff said.
Action is also expected to be taken against the many abandoned buildings that once housed businesses as part of what was described as a nationwide effort to clean up the country.
“The easier ones will be taken care of first, but I think that there are some really very difficult ones. The old HC Grant building in Ottos, for example, that’s a big building that has been abandoned.
“At first, there were some vagrants living there and it looks as though they’ve gone, but the building is an eyesore for the neighbourhood, and if we can’t get the owners to invest in the building, then we may have to take a decision, based upon the law that is not yet written,” Hurst remarked.
It is expected that Finance Minister Gaston Browne and the Minister of Works will explain more about the policy action during the Budget presentation and debate on December 15.
