Longest-ever dredging exercise is causing the country to lose Oasis-class ships’ revenue, says MP Smith

Longest-ever dredging exercise is causing the country to lose
Oasis-class ships’ revenue, says MP Smith
 
MP Anthony Smith Jr. is criticizing the Gaston Browne
Administration for the length of time it is taking to complete the
dredging of the St. John’s Harbour.
 
Smith, the United Progressive Party (UPP) spokesperson on tourism,
says it is costing the country much-needed tourism revenue, since
the Harbour is not able to accommodate the Oasis-class ships that
could bring millions of passengers here on an annual basis.
  
The Opposition MP says the Browne Administration must take the
country’s tourism product more seriously.
 
He notes that millions upon millions of dollars have been spent at
the expense of taxpayers, to date, and the non-completion is
unacceptable.

The Government needs to have this exercise fast-tracked, Smith
says, since it should not take this long to dredge a harbour.

The UPP spokesman says that being able to attract much larger
vessels would double the tourism numbers and boost revenue
within the sector.

MP Anthony Smith Jr.

The dredging exercise – being undertaken by Blue Ocean in
partnership with the National Asset Management Company
(NAMCO) – has been going on for nearly a decade now, and is the
longest dredging exercise in the history of Antigua and Barbuda.
There have been several excuses for the delayed completion – the
last being the inability of the equipment to penetrate the very dense
rock encountered.
 
This was since 2022, and the right equipment to get the job done
was to have been sourced. However, it is now 2024 and there is still
no word on when the dredging will be completed.