The government of Antigua and Barbuda has greenlit a project to clear a densely overgrown parcel of land close to three educational institutions in St. John’s, moving forward after Cabinet members were warned that the unmaintained site poses ongoing security threats to students and daily passersby. The formal announcement of the approval was delivered by Maurice Merchant, Director General of Communications, at the post-Cabinet press briefing held on Thursday, one day after the executive body held its scheduled deliberations.
Geographically, the plot sits in a heavily trafficked area: it lies just north of Ottos Comprehensive School, east of a local Catholic parish, and extends south to the border of Queen Elizabeth Highway. According to Merchant’s briefing, the parcel has become so overgrown with dense vegetation that it hides unknown constructed structures from public view. Beyond its overgrowth, the site has also been illegally used as a dumping ground for waste, and local law enforcement have already flagged the location for suspicious activity.
The Cabinet’s decision to prioritize clearing the land hinges on its proximity to daily student travel routes. Hundreds of children from three nearby schools — Ottos Comprehensive School, Mary E. Pigott Primary School, and the Seventh-day Adventist School — pass through or near the site on their commutes to classes each school day. While the property remains under private ownership, the national government has opted to take on full responsibility for the clearance work due to the severe potential hazards it presents to both the student population and the broader surrounding community.
Merchant confirmed that local residents can expect clearance work to get underway in the near future, though no specific timeline for the project’s start, total estimated cost, or further details about the unconfirmed concealed structures were released during the official briefing.
This clearance initiative is part of a broader set of public safety and crime prevention measures that the Antigua and Barbuda Cabinet reviewed during its most recent meeting. Other interventions that were discussed include ramping up visible and targeted police patrols and operations across the country, expanding the national closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance network, updating national public safety legislation, and fostering deeper collaborative partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and community groups.