The construction boom that is taking place in the country – both on Antigua and
over in Barbuda – has led to a severe shortage of skilled construction workers,
namely, carpenters and masons.
That’s the assessment coming from the Executive Chairman of the National
Housing Development and Urban Renewal Company, Senator Rawdon Turner. He
said the work of the company has been affected by the shortage that it has caused a
backlog in its delivery of finished homes to scores of individuals.
“The skilled workers shortage not only affects delivery of homes on time, but it has
also led to a reduction in the quality of the work and this has led to even more
delays thus further compounding the problem. Our entire operation is being
affected by this problem,” he stated in exasperation.
As an example, Sen. Turner pointed to the development at Oliver’s where some
200 plots are now ready for the start of construction of houses. However, based on
the availability of skilled carpenters and masons, National Housing can only work
on 50 houses at a time. “We would like to be able to scale up on the number of
homes under construction simultaneously, but we cannot. If we had more skilled
workers, we would be able to triple the number of homes we complete in any 4-6-
month period,” he revealed.
Conversely, the executive chairman noted that an adequate supply of skilled
workers would drastically reduce the wait-time for consumers before they are able
to move into their newly constructed homes.
Sen Turner reported that he has held a meeting with Prime Minister Gaston
Browne to discuss the crisis he now faces and he has asked the government to
allow for the importation of skilled workers from other CARICOM territories.
“We have no choice but to go the route of importing skilled workers into the
country. In a sense, we are the victims of our own success as the current
construction boom taking places across Antigua where in practically every village
and along the coastline there is some construction taking place. If you travel to
Barbuda, you will see the same thing taking place there as well,” he observed.
According to Sen. Turner the prime minister has okayed the proposal to import
skilled workers to meet the current shortage of this category of workers.
