St John’s is ‘deplorable’: Urban Renewal Minister talks beautification projects and city revamp

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Minister of Housing, Lands, Public Works and Urban Renewal Maria Browne (Photo by Samantha Simon)
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By Robert A. Emmanuel

[email protected]

The Minister of Housing, Lands, Public Works and Urban Renewal, Maria Browne, spoke candidly about the dilapidated state of the city of St John’s and the need for renewal in other areas in the country.

During the budget debate yesterday, the St John’s Rural East Member of Parliament told the public about her personal assessment of St John’s, following a walkthrough of the city last week with Minister of Tourism Charles Fernandez.

“St John’s is our capital, the heart of Antigua, and I am not going to… sugarcoat it, but the conditions are deplorable, and it needs urgent addressing. There are many hazardous areas that need urgent intervention,” she said, adding that the government will be working within the “next coming weeks” to improve the conditions.

St John’s holds the majority of businesses and is often visited by tourists, arriving both by cruises at the St John’s Harbour and the VC Bird International Airport.

The two-term parliamentarian said that the opposition needed to also take responsibility for the reprehensible state of the capital.

“The ‘jellybean sidewalk’ — ee gone … the monies that were spent not too long ago has been wasted. They covered the drains, created rat condominiums, the construction of drains … the stench is horrible, and so we are not going to act like the previous administration had nothing to do with it; they have to take responsibility for a lot of this atrocity in terms of the aesthetics, the cleanliness,” she said.

The opposition United Progressive Party undertook several renewal initiatives, including a sidewalk beautification project, between 2004 and 2014 when they were last in power.

Minister Browne also spoke to other areas that the government was looking at, including the creation of green spaces and major beautification initiatives around the island. These, she said, were included in the government’s plan to plant one million trees and to reduce the cost for the National Solid Waste Management Authority to maintain the major highways.

She also spoke about the renovation of several police stations and public buildings around the island.

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