CABINET NOTES: Through the Caribbean Development Bank, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda (GOAB) received two tranches of grant financing from the Government of the United Kingdom through the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Fund (UK-CIF) facility – (i) in 2016, a grant in the amount of £13.9 million for the Antigua Roads Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (ARIRP) i.e., rehabilitation and reconstruction of Friars Hill Road and Sir George Walter Highway and (ii) in 2019, a grant in the amount of £2.85 million (or approximately US$3.73m) for the Barbuda Energy Resilience Project (BERP).
The UK Government will be represented by the British High Commissioner and a delegation from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. There will also be representatives of the CDB, the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) and the Barbuda Council.
THE UKCIF – BARBUDA ENERGY RESILIENCE PROJECT (BERP). The initial scope of the project contemplated undergrounding up to 8 km of Barbuda’s electricity network, installing hybrid solar plus battery systems on ten government buildings in Barbuda and reconnecting up to 104 homes that remain disconnected from the electricity grid since the passage hurricane Irma in 2017. The executing agency for this project is the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA).
As soon as APUA began receiving bids, it became clear that due to several factors including inflationary pressures resulting from COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, the scope of the project would have to be downsized significantly in order to stay within the financing envelope. The current scope under implementation is:
- Undergrounding approximately 4km of the electrical network
- Installing Hybrid Solar plus Battery systems on three government buildings
- reconnecting approximately 84 homes (46 of which require minor works – APUA will complete this as an in-kind contribution). The reduction from 104 represents households reconnected to the grid through their own financing since the passage of Hurricane Irma.
THE CARICOM DEVELOPMENT FUND. The Government is in the process of finalizing a loan agreement with the CDF in the amount of US$ 2.89 million to complete the reduced scope of works under the BERP and to right-size the Green Barbuda Power Plant. The rightsizing of the power plant is necessary to prevent exposing Barbuda whenever APUA needs to pursue corrective or preventative maintenance activities on any of the units.