Chinese Government provides EC $100 million grant for Affordable Housing Project

Project narrative

In October 2018, the Chinese Government and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda signed a EC $100 million grant agreement for the Affordable Housing Project. Then, on November 26, 2019, the Chinese Government and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which committed an additional RMB 80 million of grant funding for the project. Then, on August 18th, 2022, Prime Minister Gaston Browne signed the official Booby Alley Social Housing Project agreement with the People’s Republic of China. The original purpose of the project was to facilitate the development of the Booby Alley site for 98 units (including mixed use units) and an additional 50 units to resettle the households subsequent to temporary relocation at Bay Street. Booby Alley, which is less than two acres large covers the area from North Street to St. John’s Street on Wilkinson’s Cross; west on St. John’s Street to Mariner’s Lane; south on Mariner’s Lane to North Street; and east on North Street to Wilkinson’s Cross. However, Prime Minister Gaston Browne later announced the scope of the project would be expanded to include the construction of 250 homes – 150 in the Booby Alley area, 50 in Bolans and 50 on Barbuda. He also announced that “[t]he project, for the most part, will comprise of rental properties which will be heavily subsidized. Those who had homes in the Booby Alley area will also be able to own a home at a substantially reduced cost, we will also have to give them credit for their existing home, no matter the conditions.” Preparatory work for the project commenced in April 2019. On December 7th, 2022, Chinese technicians from China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation had arrived to begin soil testing. Construction was originally slated to begin in the first quarter of 2021 and site clearance was expected to reach completion by January 31, 2021. Then, in March 2021, Prime Minister Gaston Browne presided over a handover ceremony in the Booby Alley are on Lower Bay Street Villa. 12 families from the Booby Alley area in Point received keys to their temporary homes at the ceremony. The existing housing was planned to be destroyed and replaced by the modern homes. Each three-bedroom house that was handed over was approximately twelve hundred square feet in size, with a laundry room, bathroom, kitchen, and living room with a combination of reinforced concrete, cement base foam panels, metal trusses with angle iron, foam galvanize metal doors and windows. All homes are said to have electricity, water, and internet infrastructures in place. At the same time, this project has faced some setbacks, including protests by families in Booby Alley who refused to leave. In response to families that refuse to leave, the government in 2022 began issuing court orders to remove families. The challenge faced by the local authorities is the temporary displacement of the residents of Booby Alley to the temporary housing being constructed, and to rental homes that are within the City of St. John’s. Several temporary homes are being built on Crown land at Bay Street and on Reginald Stevens Street. Environmental concerns and waste-water management concerns have also arisen. Ninety cement bases have already been laid as foundations for the temporary homes. Construction was not able to begin until all residents had left Booby Alley. It is anticipated that the two-acre Booby Alley site will be made completely vacant by January 31, 2021, except for the buildings which house Papasita Destin’s supermarket and the Bethel Anglican church. It is then expected that it will take approximately two years for the replacement housing to be constructed, and for most of the residents to return to living in an upgraded housing project. On September 28th, 2023, the government of Antigua and Barbuda signed a deal with the two remaining Booby Alley residents, sisters Dawn and Desiree Browne, to acquire their land. In October 2023, the land was cleared in anticipation of the project's commencement and the prime minister held a town hall meeting in order to get community input after preliminary designs were submitted by Chinese architects, which propose a condominium-style architectural approach. On October 28th, 2024 a groundbreaking ceremony was held to begin the construction of the new housing.