Prime Minister Gaston Browne has sharply criticised the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) over its prolonged failure to procure essential parts needed for water production, warning that continued inefficiency could lead to the utility being privatised.
Speaking on his _Browne and Browne_ radio programme, the Prime Minister revealed that APUA had gone 11 months without securing necessary components, resulting in disruptions to the country’s water supply.
“For 11 months they have been unable to purchase certain service parts,” Browne said. “And you’re talking about a million EC dollars. You’re trying to convince this Cabinet that you couldn’t find a million dollars to purchase parts for the plant?”
The Prime Minister said the government had now intervened by approving the funds directly but expressed disappointment that APUA had not acted sooner.
“APUA has a half a billion dollars in assets. You collect hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and you’re telling me you couldn’t raise one million?” he asked.
Browne questioned whether APUA had explored basic financing options, such as approaching a commercial bank or cutting other expenses temporarily to prioritise essential operations.
“If you don’t want to touch your reserves, you can’t tell me you don’t have a relationship with a bank to say, ‘Run me an overdraft until I get the million dollars,’” he said. “That’s what I used to do when I ran my own business.”
He also expressed frustration over what he described as a broader culture of low performance and inadequate urgency in the public sector.
“If we continue to invest in water production and these guys at APUA continue to underperform, we may have to privatize it,” Browne warned. “Because at this point, excuses are not good enough.”
The Prime Minister said APUA management had been repeatedly instructed to maintain stockpiles of critical components to prevent service disruptions but had failed to follow through.
“We told them years ago: keep the parts in stock. But when I examined their accounts, they’re holding $10 million for contingencies and telling us they don’t have a million for parts. That is the contingency!”
The government recently dispatched 27 Public Works employees to China for training in road construction and plans to do the same for APUA staff to improve technical capacity and efficiency.
Browne said he is determined to hold public bodies accountable and will continue to speak publicly on their performance.
“When you carry the public with you, and they know that the public knows they’re not operating efficiently, that’s when they react,” he said.
