It’s been one year since the Gaston Browne Administration was returned to office
for a third consecutive term…and while he declined to be drawn into grading the
government’s performance, Information Minister Melford Nicholas said much has
been achieved over the past twelve months.
“One of the challenges we faced going into the last general election (January 18,
2023) was the issue of water., and if I was to state the situation without being
boastful, I would say that we have brought some level of calmness to the
production of water. It continues to be an issue but I believe we have been able to
increase production to a level where we are not yet out of the woods, but we are
able to meet, if not the daily, then the weekly supply of water to each and every
community. There are some exceptions and when brought to our attention, we have
been able to respond to those,” he outlined in Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing.
Going forward, Nicholas the government is actively negotiating with two separate
entities to outsource the production of water into private hands. One such
negotiations, with Seven Seas, is likely to be concluded by the middle of February.
He said there’s a dual-track approach with behind-the-scenes activities taking place
to ensure that by the end of the first quarter there will be the additional plants in
production making more water available for the southern corridor and from
Barnacle Point.
Nicholas said he is satisfied that by the time the drier months of summer roll
around and some of the water resources now available have become depleted, there
will be enough reverse osmosis production capacity to meet the demands.
“We are not done; we are still going to be looking at the distribution system and to
replace the pipelines. On Wednesday, we held a meeting with representatives of
the Chinese government which has offered some assistance with the plan to send a
team to Antigua and Barbuda to work along with APUA to help with the issue of
pipeline replacement and distribution,” he reported.
One year later, the information minister much work has been done to stabilize the
water situation and that the work continues.
Regarding the economy, he noted that the prime minister has reported that the
country has achieved economic growth ‘across the board’ as the government
continues to manage the economy ‘with a steady hand’.
“We have seen the crystallisation of several projects; the Harrison Centre is now
operational; the expansion of the UWI FIC is on track along with plans to build a
new primary school; while the ministry of tourism has boasted it best year on
record for tourist arrivals. The work continues!” he declared.
