Chinese Government provides RMB 80 million grant — via ETCA — for Affordable Housing Project (Linked to Project ID#89551)

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. 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 included the construction of 250 homes – 150 of which will be erected in the Booby Alley area, 50 in Bolans and another 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. 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. 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 a staged protest by one family, with the support of some residents from the Booby Alley area, who for months, refused to relocate. The small chattel houses that are currently located at the Booby Alley project site are to be replaced with modern, climate-resilient houses. The modern, climate-resilient houses are supposed to be offered to the current residents upon completion of the construction. 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. When all residents currently residing within Booby Alley have been placed in the temporary housing, or have had their homes moved to vacant plots, the chattel houses which cannot be salvaged will have to be razed since they are likely to be too fragile. 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.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Booby Alley Rehabilitation Housing Project and the Urban Development & Renewal Project.

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