Uplifting Our Communities

A focus of national life and culture on urban to the exclusion of rural areas is unfortunate and shortsighted. The UPP will ensure balanced development across the county.

In our second term, the UPP will:

• Establish Administrative and Cultural Centres in each parish. These will be the centres for administrative, local government and cultural activities for villages and communities within the parish
• Enhance and institutionalize the annual Home and Gardens Festival to encourage pride in keeping homes, gardens and the local environment clean and beautiful
• Ensure that the standard of public safety and security in the villages and rural communities is maintained at a high level through adequate police presence
• Establish a number of special Economic Activity Zones at strategic rural locations like Parham, All Saints, English Harbour and Bolans. This will decentralize economic activity and job creation away from the city and create opportunities for employment in rural areas
• Continue and intensify the rural infrastructure program by building and repairing more roads, drains, sports complexes and public squares and parks
• Develop two major, new, rural highways: One connecting Old Road to English Harbour, and the other connecting Bendals to John Hughes via Break Nock. These new highways will open up many new opportunities for development of agriculture, housing and tourism enterprises in the respective rural areas
• Expand the Community Pride Programme to year ’round activity that will be a component of all festivals and special events in Antigua & Barbuda