Antigua and Barbuda’s flagship urban renewal initiative, the Booby Alley Redevelopment Project, has entered its final construction phase and is approaching its official public opening, Prime Minister Gaston Browne confirmed in a public interview Sunday. Speaking as a guest on the locally produced Brown and Brown Show, Browne framed the transformative neighborhood project as a key pillar of the current administration’s ongoing commitment to upgrading housing access and living standards for low-income and disadvantaged communities across the nation. The prime minister’s update came in direct response to observations from show host Colin O’Neill, who pointed out that perimeter fencing around large sections of the redevelopment site had already been taken down. This visible change signals that last-minute logistical and site preparations are well underway ahead of the project’s inauguration ceremony. For decades, Booby Alley stood as one of Antigua and Barbuda’s oldest informal settlements, marked by substandard, overcrowded housing and limited access to basic infrastructure. Browne emphasized that the completed redevelopment will completely reshape the area, replacing outdated, unsafe structures with quality, permanent housing that meets modern living standards. Beyond the Booby Alley project, the prime minister noted that this initiative works in lockstep with the government’s broader national housing strategy, which includes two other core programs: the Housing Assistance Programme for Indigent People (HAPI) and a series of large-scale affordable housing developments spread across both islands of Antigua and Barbuda. According to Browne, the HAPI program has scaled up its operations significantly in recent months, now delivering multiple completed home builds every month to qualifying families. The administration has set an annual target of constructing no fewer than 50 new homes each year specifically for low-income and indigent households that lack the resources to build safe housing on their own. Looking ahead, Browne announced that a new government-owned concrete block manufacturing plant is scheduled to begin operations within the next 60 days. Once operational, the plant will allow the HAPI program to shift from constructing temporary wooden homes to building far more durable, long-lasting concrete residential structures that can better withstand the Caribbean region’s extreme weather events. At its core, Browne reiterated that all of the government’s housing-focused initiatives share a single central goal: to lift up vulnerable populations by replacing crumbling, dilapidated housing with modern, safe homes, and to expand access to reasonably priced housing options for residents in every corner of Antigua and Barbuda.
PM Browne Says Booby Alley Redevelopment Nearing Official Opening
