REAL NEWS: The privatization of the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) Water Business Unit has always been a plan of the Gaston Browne Administration, opines Franz deFreitas, the United Progressive Party (UPP) caretaker for St. John’s City South.
The Administration is having serious issues with the timely and daily distribution of water throughout the country, and is currently in discussion with two private entities to take over certain of the division’s operations.
But deFreitas says he is fundamentally opposed to any move to privatize the APUA Water Division’s responsibilities.
According to him, as it now stands, citizens and residents already pay a phenomenal rate for water that is of a very poor quality.
He adds that households rarely get water on a daily basis; and when they do get it, the quality and condition of the commodity are
terrible.
This has forced many people to purchase water privately for household use – and also at exorbitant rates, he says.
Pointing to a loan that the Government took out – over three years ago – to deal with the water infrastructure, deFreitas says this was a prelude to the nefarious plan to privatize the Water Division.
He believes the Browne Administration already knew it intended to privatize the Unit; and yet it saddled the people with a huge loan to repay.
DeFreitas says this proposed move will be a burden on the backs of Antiguans and Barbudans for generations to come.
The sooner the people realize that this is an uncaring government and take the necessary steps, the better their lives will become, the UPP caretaker says.
Meanwhile, deFreitas says there are rumours in circulation that this water-privatization venture might be of financial benefit to some members of the Cabinet.
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“According to him, as it now stands, citizens and residents already pay a phenomenal rate for water that is of a very poor quality.”
Where has Franz deFreitas been living? Citizens pay a “phenomenal rate for water” in Antigua? In case deFreitas has been living under a rock, in Antigua people pay $22.00 for 1000 gallons of water, a rate that is among the lowest (and quite possibly THE LOWEST) in the Caribbean. This rate is well below the production cost of the same 1000 gallons. In fact, even the UPP when they were in government spoke about a hike in the price of water to at least its production cost.
Furthermore, at no time did the government ever say that water will be privatized in Antigua. instead, a company is being sought to produce water and sell it to APUA, something that has happened before with Sembcorp. This not not a new or strange idea since we also purchase electricity from private companies.
deFreitas and the UPP need to learn to speak truth and stop lying to the public.
@Was an’Basin
If APUA can’t deliver water to the public, how is APUA buying water going to get that water to the public? Intellectual dunces. Replace the leaking underground pipes and stop wasting taxpayer’s money. That is the crux of the problem.
Again, another ABLP acolyte defending Gaston Browne come what may.
AMORAL basket case.
If you want the definition of a true true GASTONITE, then @ Wash an’ Basin is it. He sees no evil 🙈, speaks no evil 🙊, and hears no evil 🙉, from Gaston ‘The Deflector’ Browne.
I’m soooo glad I saw the light just after 2014 …
The operative word” since we already purchasing electricity from a private company” is not able to sensitize you that water is on the same road, which causes a more stringent social operation economically been pushed by Apua by these private contractors demanding monies will instruct apua to carry out rigid disconnections bringing financial stress on the people. When will former slaves leaved naked and impoverished learn economic polical ideology and not cosmetic ideology of color of the gangs use to polarized use to rule us, both party are labor oriented so they work for large investors, and will sell out the people, in this case the apua electricity generation and now water, which will need subsidy up to the time it’s sold so we may pay from our pocket along with government paying. Up with this party system of upp & alp and let’s be Antiguan barbudan because you cursing for party and we are doing it to keep white people at the top where we are just wage earner and they the boss. So not even our political party is boss or top dog.
The operative word” since we already purchasing electricity from a private company” is not able to sensitize you that water is on the same road, which causes a more stringent social operation economically been pushed by Apua by these private contractors demanding monies will instruct apua to carry out rigid disconnections bringing financial stress on the people. When will former slaves naked and impoverished learn economic polical ideology and not cosmetic ideology of color of the gangs use to polarized use to rule us, both party are labor oriented so they work for large investors, and will sell out the people, in this case the apua electricity generation and now water, which will need subsidy up to the time it’s sold so we may pay from our pocket along with government paying. Up with this party system of upp & alp and let’s be Antiguan barbudan because you cursing for party and we are doing it to keep white people at the top where we are just wage earner and they the boss. So not even our political party is not boss or top dog.
Excellent response. I strongly believe that APUA water & electricity should be privatized. Remember the no good Generators UPP bought also what they did for water when they were in Government.
Your Puppeteer is on record, denouncing all his Puppet supporters who doubted that the engines were new so stop making yourself a fool.
You are neither a good spokesperson nor a spin-doctor. After getting for an average of 6 days per month, we are asked to pay even more than when the supply was greater speaking about truthfully; I suppose that you haven’t listened to Max and NERO for some time now.
It is unfortunate that you have such low expectations for yourself and by extension our government. Clearly you were not listening to Gaston in parliament this morning. Further, water cost is not limited to APUA water. Please consider the costs of purchasing water to drink, cook, Brush your teeth and other personal uses. Finally, we want to keep water rates low so that every person rich and poor can have access to clean water for their families 24 hours per day and 7 days per week.
@Franz deFreitas…. You have just demonstrated your incompetence and unsuitability for political leadership with this statement: “Clearly you were not listening to Gaston in parliament this morning.”
The above story was posted YESTERDAY and my comments were made YESTERDAY. Look at the time stamp of my comment above, and you will see. How then could I have had the benefit of listening to the Prime Minister previous to posting my comments? If a simple detail such as this one went over your head, then heaven help Antigua that people of your low intelligence are vying for political office.
My statement regarding your twisting the truth still stands. The quote from you in the original story highlights your penchant for half-truths and whole lies. The fact remains that what the government is proposing is nothing strange nor undesirable, and Antigua has the lowest rate for water in the Caribbean. The rate of $20.00 per 1000 gallons is below the production cost. These are statements of fact that neither you nor your blue cabal can dispute.
@ wash basin
If the government of the day cannot provide a basis need, that is incompetence.
I really do have to DISAGREE with the notion of “PRIVATIZATION” of ANY division of APUA…first water, then electricity, then mobile: I remember the UPP administration appeared hell-bent on selling or giving away APUA PCS to the Digi-poo-poo; especially the then information minister and his top advisor that jumped fast right into a big executive position at the same Digi-poo-poo as soon as they lost the government back in 2014. (Ever wondered why you can’t pay iNet bills or top up your iNet mobile phone at the same cashiers where you pay electricity and water bills? 🤔)
Then what other State asset is next?
Privatization is a very slippery slope that we do not want to get on. The potential for victimizing the people is very real: I don’t know if citizens conveniently forget how much “load-shedding” we endured in the run-up to the 2004 general elections, because a certain flip-flop provider wasn’t being paid apparently.
And the water woes we were experiencing way back then too! Semi-privatizing the water production or whatever it was that was done, DID NOT work, and the central government was left holding the bag of debt that was Sembicorp!
Ordinarily, privatization may be an option if the COMPANIES that are being considered to purchase the asset have more than just money… There ought to be demonstrably proven track records of fairness in all their dealings, as well as capabilities and capacity to make the services better than what exists.
I know, I know – right now ANYTHING would be better than what exists. But the improvement must NOT MERELY BE FOR NOW, but long, long, term – damn near permanent.
How many of these kinds of companies do we really have? 🤔
I WILL WAIT – BUT I WILL NOT HOLD MY BREATH!
What the Antiguan and Barbudan public must ensure DOES NOT HAPPEN, is for the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to simply hand over our assets to the ‘HONGLY’ GROUP OF COMPANIES, because there is no other that can generate water or electricity or whatever!!
Rectifying the water situation in Antigua and Barbuda can begin with addressing the removal of the rusting, Colonial-era pipelines: pipelines which were installed how many generations ago. It’s not now that APUA has been speaking about this “project”, but NOBODY – neither ALP, nor UPP, nor ABLP – MADE IT A PRIORITY!
APUA didn’t need to bail out the “Benjimans”! If they had focused on that pipeline project, they would NOT have had to continuously ‘waste resources fixing ruptured water mains’ all these years. (And many of our roads would be in better shape.) The water situation could have been improved long ago, such that they could have increase the rates and possibly made the water division profitable finally. As it is, they couldn’t be drunk to contemplate increasing water rates at this time!
I guess I am too old, but I remember in the days when APUA was operating TANGO – the DESALINATION PLANT at Crabbs Peninsula… We had regular supply of potable water as well as electricity, since the one power plant generated electricity and produced fresh water.
I’m sure it’s also expensive to operate and maintain, and all the environmental/climate change-‘niss’ may make it unattractive, but I daresay it served quite well in it’s time, and perhaps it would have been better if we bothered to properly maintain and service the machinery. Though costly, has there been any comparative analyses (for cost saving benefits, environmental impacts, etc) between DESALINATION and REVERSE OSMOSIS platforms. Other countries with arid climate similar to or worse than ours operate desalination plants (eg. Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Australia, inter alia): yes I know, I know – they have more wealth…but I don’t know that their people have the same kind of mindset like we have here 😕😏.
That’s one of the biggest problems affecting this country – severe disregard for the benefits of proper maintenance of infrastructure – everything from machinery, to buildings, to roads, to drains, etc. etc. etc.
The real overarching problem in this fair land of ours, is that too much cronyism exists – primarily in the public sector, but make no mistake, the private sector is not much better! It is too much about ‘comrades’, ‘brothers and sisters’, and all the ‘fren and compny’ jargon we want to use.
And the citizens, especially a very large section of public sector employees, DO NOT CARE ABOUT PUBLIC RESOURCES, as evidenced by the GROSS ABUSE, MISUSE AND MISMANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC RESOURCES. The ‘this is government’ mindset and the ‘anything-goes-attitude’, to cover or conceal their incompetences needs to be stamped out as a matter of URGENCY.
WE NEED TO CLEAN HOUSE, and I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT ELECTIONS: I am REFERRING to PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM. So long, so long this being bandied about but nobody has the testicular fortitude to get it done: political suicide they say…and nobody wants to sacrifice for the benefit of the whole – they’re too comfortable with the suffering of the masses for the benefit of the few!
What we do not realize is that Antigua and Barbuda WILL NOT SURVIVE OTHERWISE – IT DOES NOT MATTER WHICH ADMINISTRATION IS AT THE HELM!
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