Talks stall between gov’t and crematorium entrepreneurs

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Tomlinson’s Cemetery (Photo by Robert A Emmanuel)
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By Robert A Emmanuel

[email protected]

It has emerged that two Canadian-based entrepreneurs may have expressed greater interest in managing a state-funded crematorium in Antigua – rather than investing in building one.

That is according to the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Lionel Hurst, who told media at yesterday’s post-Cabinet briefing that talks between the two parties had stalled.

“They wanted the government of Antigua and Barbuda to do the investing in the crematory and the other services that would be offered at the cemetery and they were not interested in putting down their own capital,” Hurst said.

Shelley Challenger and Minnelle Williams initially met with the Cabinet in November 2023 to discuss the proposal, with Cabinet later stating that the women were willing to input more than US$250,000 into the construction of the facility and shipping of equipment to the island.

However, yesterday Hurst said, until the two women “are willing to spend their own capital”, there will be no progress on the construction of the facility, which would offer grieving families an alternative funeral method beyond burial.

Precisely how the talks with government stand now remains unclear with Williams telling Observer last night, “It is our commitment and intention to invest in the project. We await the next steps.”

Meanwhile, the Tomlinson’s Cemetery is reportedly “weeks” away from being able to carry out burials. Hurst said several factors have slowed down progress in recent months, including the fencing of the property and the construction of access roads.

“Then there had to be a survey of the land that is being used and to have the land divided into parcels,” he added.

The St John’s Public Cemetery and the Bolan’s Lady of the Valley Cemetery have been struggling to find new spaces for the burial of loved ones for some time.

This has placed significant pressure on the government to either secure new lands for burials or to build the country’s first crematorium.

“At some point, the people of Antigua and Barbuda will turn to cremation; in many of the islands of the Caribbean and elsewhere, where land space is severely limited and the number of people that are dying each year is just as great as it is here in Antigua and Barbuda, we have [seen] cases of more people being cremated rather than having burials,” Hurst stated.

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