Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has publicly addressed growing public frustration over shoddy infrastructure work, demanding that local construction firm C.O. Williams fix all confirmed flaws in recently completed road projects without drawing additional public funds. The prime minister made his remarks during an appearance Saturday on the locally produced Browne and Browne Show, where he fielded questions and complaints from residents who reported rapid deterioration and unfinished work on multiple recently repaved road segments across the country. Clarifying the procurement process that led to C.O. Williams securing the work, Browne explained that the $100 million infrastructure improvement program is backed by development financing from the Caribbean Development Bank, which requires all funded contracts to be awarded through an open, competitive bidding process. “We did not award this contract to C.O. Williams through closed, bilateral negotiations outside of public procurement rules,” Browne said. “As a condition of borrowing from the Caribbean Development Bank, we were mandated to run a full tender process, and C.O. Williams emerged as the winning bidder.” The prime minister did not downplay the severity of the issues that have emerged, openly acknowledging that the significant rutting observed across multiple sections of the repaved roads is a legitimate and serious cause for alarm. “I have to admit the amount of rutting that has taken place during the repaving of these recent roads is a serious cause for concern,” Browne reiterated. Following inspections carried out by the country’s Public Works Department, government officials have formally documented all construction defects and issued a formal directive to the contractor requiring the affected road sections to be completely redone. To address widespread public speculation that taxpayer money would be wasted correcting the contractor’s mistakes, Browne emphasized that no additional public funds will be allocated to fix the substandard work. “It is C.O. Williams who, having had instructions from Public Works that the roads were not properly paved, would have had to redo them at their own expense,” Browne confirmed. The announcement comes as the government faces growing pressure to maintain accountability for major development projects funded by international lending institutions, with the prime minister’s public commitment to holding the contractor financially responsible aimed at reassuring taxpayers that public money will not be misused to cover poor workmanship.
PM Browne Says C.O. Williams Must Correct Defective Roadworks at Its Own Expense
