— Gaston Browne has pushed back against a proposal by Jamale Pringle to sell Crown land to young people for up to $5 per square foot, arguing that similar land is already being offered for less under an existing government programme.
In a social media post, Browne questioned the opposition leader’s claim, asking: “Can someone tell the moron, Jamale Pringle that my administration sells land as low as $3.00 per square foot and $4-5 on average?”
Pringle, leader of the United Progressive Party, made the proposal during a rally in St Mary’s North on Tuesday, where he outlined plans to allocate roughly 8,000-square-foot plots to Antiguans and Barbudans up to age 35 at no more than $5 per square foot.
He said a UPP administration would audit remaining Crown lands, zone them for residential use and distribute about 2,000 plots over five years. “We will not allow deep pockets to take advantage and buy up acres and acres of Crown land,” Pringle told supporters.
However, questions have been raised about how the proposal differs from the existing Land Empowerment Programme administered through the Central Housing and Planning Authority, where plots averaging about 6,000 square feet are already sold at approximately $3 per square foot.
Housing Minister Maria Browne previously told Parliament that the programme removed its age cap in 2023 to expand access beyond applicants under 35.
Pringle also said a UPP government would end the practice of requiring new homeowners to cover the cost of utility infrastructure such as poles and pipelines installed by the Antigua Public Utilities Authority in developing communities.
In addition, he pledged to extend the legal stay for CARICOM nationals from three months to six months and introduce work permits that are “unrestricted within the industry,” as part of broader immigration reforms ahead of the April 30 general election.
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Yes government has being selling land for $3 but only to selected few I think a slightly higher price and a fair distribution would be better
Also after all them fake duty free and vehicle gate scandal I think it’s only fair that we just get rid of the taxes on vehicles after all the government will make taxes on licence insurance and petrol when those vehicles are out
Watta ting
“Everything he’s presenting now is just a mirage. After two and a half years of a failed prime ministership, he’s trying to win people over with empty promises—wages, education, community projects. But he’s also the one who failed us with the CIP visa program—promised to boom Antigua, but it never returned the investment. We still have the worst roads in the Caribbean, ridiculously high taxes, and food is outrageously expensive—grapes are spoiled and still cost over $30. And while gas prices have skyrocketed for years, now he claims he’ll absorb the cost because of the war in Iran—but this is just another game. He’s been hammering us for so long, and now he wants us to believe he’ll save us? No way. We see through him, and come the 30th, he’s out of office.”