Ongoing drainage construction at Trents Tenantry in St. James, Barbados, is advancing two key goals: cutting chronic flooding in the local area and prepping the plot marked for the controversial relocation of the Holetown Civic Centre, Barbados’ Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) confirmed in an official statement Friday.
The infrastructure project is being executed by local contractor Infra Construction Inc. on behalf of the government, as part of a broader redevelopment initiative along Barbados’ west coast. The core plan calls for moving the existing beachfront Holetown Civic Centre—currently home to a police post, magistrates’ court, public library, post office, and multiple other government services—to the Trents site, clearing the original waterfront plot for a $176 million hotel development awarded last year to the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL).
Since the plan was first unveiled, it has sparked intense public debate across multiple stakeholder groups. Local residents, small business owners, heritage preservation advocates, and conservation organizations have raised repeated red flags, warning that the hotel project risks eroding Holetown’s unique historic character, restricting public access to the popular beachfront area, and straining the region’s already overburdened existing infrastructure.
Work on the Trents drainage site was briefly paused earlier this month after nearby Frederick Smith Secondary School raised complaints about excessive construction dust impacting campus operations. To address these concerns, MTW confirmed that project managers implemented new dust mitigation measures, including the installation of a perimeter containment fence, before work resumed on Tuesday. Officials later held a follow-up meeting with school leadership on Thursday, where no outstanding concerns were documented.
A visit to the site by Barbados TODAY last month found that multiple sections of the property had already been cleared and excavated, with prominent warning signs posted along the adjacent roadside marking active construction. A newly excavated retention pond was already visible on the property, with crews actively installing underground drainage pipes and related flood-control infrastructure.
Flooding has long been a persistent problem for residents and workers across Holetown and surrounding communities. Maria, a local worker who asked to withhold her last name, shared that even moderate heavy rain routinely leaves key civic buildings underwater at the existing Civic Centre site. “The post office is flooded. The police station is flooded. The water comes up when there is heavy rain,” she explained, adding that she also shares concerns about prolonged construction disrupting local traffic, spreading ongoing dust, and hurting business activity near both the Trents site and the original Holetown location.
For many other nearby residents, their top frustration is not flooding or construction disruption, but a persistent lack of transparent public information about the final layout and scope of the new Civic Centre. Artneal Abby, an area Airbnb operator who lives close to the Trents site, told reporters that local residents are still left with dozens of unanswered questions months after the project was announced. “There is zero information,” Abby said. “There’s a big board there for quite a long time and it says if you want to see the plans, click on this link. When you go on that link, there aren’t any plans to see. We don’t know the size of the buildings, where the car park’s going, where the roads are going. There isn’t any information.” He added that neighbors just want clear details to understand how the development will impact adjacent properties and the broader community: “What I would like is a letter outlining exactly what they’re going to do and a picture of what it’s going to look like so we can see if there are going to be buildings directly behind us or whether it’s going to be a car park.”
Still, the project has not faced universal opposition. Jaiye Maynard, a local Trents resident, said he supports the redevelopment and welcomes the planned relocation of the Holetown police station to the new site, arguing that a closer police presence will improve public safety for the surrounding neighborhood. “I’m happy for it,” Maynard said. “Having a police station here will bring a lot of safety to the area.”