As the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda rushes to complete critical infrastructure upgrades ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled for November, the national government has greenlit an additional EC$20 million injection to accelerate ongoing roadworks across the country. This new funding round comes as the country’s Ministry of Works ramps up its infrastructure delivery timeline to meet the upcoming high-profile international event deadline.
Speaking publicly on Thursday, Maurice Merchant, the country’s Director General of Communications, confirmed that the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda has already been notified that the additional financing will be made available in the near term. Merchant later clarified that the EC$20 million is drawn from an larger $87 million financing package recently negotiated with a consortium of domestic commercial banks operating in the twin-island nation.
The extra capital is being deployed to support ongoing road improvement activities, including resurfacing, milling, joint cutting, and patching work on the country’s highest-priority road corridors. Given the tight timeline ahead of the Commonwealth summit, Ministry of Works officials informed the Cabinet that project teams are prioritizing road segments based on their current structural condition, rather than pursuing full reconstruction of every roadway across the islands. This targeted approach is designed to deliver the maximum visible improvement in road quality before delegates begin arriving for the major international gathering.
Active construction work is already underway along the corridor stretching from the Hodges Bay-Sunsail district toward Anchorage, with multiple other priority routes already undergoing milling and patching interventions. Ongoing upgrades are also progressing in the English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard area, while road repaving and drainage system improvements are being carried out across the capital city of St. John’s.
In addition to the new infrastructure funding, Merchant confirmed that the Cabinet has also approved additional budget allocations for new construction equipment and raw materials to speed up the entire programme. To meet the tight deadline, work crews will operate six days per week, with scheduled overtime shifts to keep projects on track. Priority is being given to roads surrounding key CHOGM meeting venues and primary routes that will be used by visiting foreign delegations during the summit.
Once all priority upgrades for the November Commonwealth meeting are finalized, the broader national road improvement programme will be scaled out to additional communities across both Antigua and Barbuda, bringing long-overdue infrastructure upgrades to local residents across the country.