By Tahna Weston
Opposition MP Richard Lewis said he is not one bit impressed with the boasts of Prime Minister Gaston Browne about his government’s successes in alleviating the decades-old water crisis.
The Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP), of which PM Browne is its political leader, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday (June 12) during an event at its headquarters – The People’s Place on Nugent Avenue.
The Labour Party won the elections in 2014, and has won two following polls. It is now in its third term in public office, under Browne’s leadership.
In an address to the nation, PM Browne noted that under his party’s leadership, the government has been able to acquire ownership of critical assets to improve the water supply, which is for the public good.
Browne said that over the past decade, his administration has made investments in infrastructure to include reverse osmosis plants, which have strengthened the capacity to produce pipe-borne water.
However, Lewis said that the citizens and residents of Antigua and Barbuda are still complaining about water, and therefore, it is time for Browne and his government to deliver on promises to fix the water woes.
He said that while the prime minister is bragging about inroads in improving the water infrastructure, millions of dollars have been spent and the people are still unable to get water running on a reliable basis through their pipes.
“All can recall that in the lead-up to the 2014 general elections we were promised by Gaston Browne, then leader of the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party, that under his administration that we’d get water in 14 days – our water woes would be solved.
“And it has been 10 years -10 years later under his administration – and he is boasting about his accomplishments, but yet we cannot get water on a regular basis running through our pipes, after 10 years, after being promised water in 14 days,” Lewis said.
The opposition MP said the people need answers since this blatant neglect cannot continue.
Lewis admitted that although there were issues with on-time water delivery under the United Progressive Party (UPP) administration, he said not to this extent.
He made reference to the St John’s Rural West constituency, for which he is the parliamentary representative and also where he resides, citing that the delivery of water was more reliable under the UPP.
“During the Baldwin Spencer administration, yes, there were issues with water from time to time because Antigua suffers from drought, but the situation was not like this, I can attest to that. It was not like this, this is far worse than anything we’ve ever experienced,” the opposition MP said.
“So I am not going to buy into that. The water situation, yes, we had our issues, but it is nothing like what we are experiencing now under the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party after they came into office promising the people of Antigua and Barbuda that they would fix our water woes,” the MP chided.
Lewis, making reference to the $37.8 million Bethesda reverse osmosis plant, is asking why it is not yet operational and whether the deal with Seven Seas Water Group for water production is a way of abandoning the Bethesda Plant, which the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) would fully own?
The delivery date for the three million gallon-per-day RO plant was September 2022.
According to Lewis, while the ABLP celebrated its 10th anniversary there is still unreliable and inadequate water supply.
He says that Browne’s claims of successes in improving the water production “only exist in the prime minister’s dreams.”
Meanwhile, Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, Lionel “Max” Hurst, during Thursday’s post-Cabinet press briefing said that the Executive during its weekly discussions on Wednesday admitted that it has been challenged in terms of water production.
Hurst said that more RO plants would be constructed; this he added would be done at Crabbes and Ffryes.
He said that in 2014, water production from the RO plants moved from three-and-a-half million gallons per day, to today exceeding eight million gallons.
Hurst said that some 12 million gallons per day is required to satisfy all consumers.
