Black Immigrant Daily News

The St Ann police have arrested three men who have been linked to the operation of an illegal petrol station in Tobolski in the parish.

The clampdown has placed a serious dent on the illegal petroleum trade that is believed to be fleecing millions of dollars worth of petrol from legal gas station operators and distributors, the police have indicated.

The police operation which led to the arrest of the men on Thursday, is the latest under the recently launched ‘Operation Leviticus’ by the St Ann police.

‘Operation Leviticus’ is expected to restore law and order in St Ann amid the recent upsurge in murders and road fatalities across the parish.

While speaking to reporters shortly after the successful operation, Deputy Superintendent in charge of the crime portfolio in the parish, Linton Bailey, said numerous five-gallon containers suspected to have been used to store fuel, were discovered at the makeshift petrol station in Tobolski.

He noted that while three men have been detained, another man known as ‘Bread Man’ is being sought as the police continue their probe.

‘Bread Man’ remains at large, and persons are being urged to contact the Brown’s Town Police Station with information about his whereabouts

“What is appalling is that an underground storage area was found and over 153 empty five-gallon containers suspected to be used in the storage of gasoline were found,” said Bailey of the illegal petrol station in Tobolski.

In addition, paraphernalia that were used in the distribution and sale of gas oil were also found at the makeshift petrol station.

“We think this trade is very lucrative in the Brown’s Town, Alexandria and surrounding areas, and we think that several gas station operators and distributors are being fleeced of millions of dollars worth of petrol by these traders,” Bailey stated.

He also warned motorists of the effects of purchasing gas from illegal petrol stations.

“We’re asking motorists to be conscious of the fact that these types of gasoline are well below the quality that is required to propel their engines,” he stated.

Elsewhere in St Ann on Thursday, the police conducted several other raids in and around the Brown’s Town and Watt Town police areas.

“Our main focus were lottery scammers and persons dealing in the illegal petroleum trade,” said Bailey.

He said a man was arrested in connection to lottery scamming after lead sheets were found in his possession.

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The United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling the Gaston Browne Administration onto the carpet to account for over 26 development projects it promised the people during its nearly nine years in office.

The UPP notes that the Antigua Labour Party Government has failed to deliver over 3,000 new hotel rooms; 6,000 construction jobs; 7,000 permanent jobs; and injections totalling over US$5 billion into the local economy.

In a statement issued today, August 18, the UPP says the Browne Administration “has amassed the highest number of failed projects under any government in the history of Antigua and Barbuda – likely the poorest track record in the world.”

Amidst the current unemployment and underemployment crisis, the UPP is calling on the Government to provide updates or progress reports on these ventures – which, it says, has irresponsibly dashed many residents’ hopes and dreams of long-term prosperity.

The Party notes that these 26 major projects were announced by senior government officials during successive Budget presentations.

They include the Beaches Resort by Sandals Resorts; the Half Moon Bay Hotel; the Morris Bay/ Callaloo Cay Project; the Long Bay Hotel Resort by Ocean Jewels; the Valley Church Hotel that became the Calvin Ayre Wellness Resort; the Marriott Autograph Hotel at Yeptons; and the Beach Club at Fort James by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

Other failed ventures, the UPP points out, are the NAMCO acquisition of Jolly Beach Hotel; the Best Western Hotel at Jolly Harbour; the Marriott Courtyard Airport Hotel; the Mike Tyson Hotel; the YIDA Project; the Willoughby Bay Project; and, most recently, the Western Imperial Special Economic Zone (WISEZ).

Among the other stillborn developments are the Paradise Found and Armand Hotels on Barbuda and the US$300 million hotel and conference centre by an unnamed investor from Holland.

The full list of projects that have failed to materialize can be found on the UPP’s social media pages.

Meanwhile, Political Leader Harold Lovell says, “It is clear … that the Administration is either failing to attract the right kind of investors or failing to properly nurture investments which have the potential for success.”

Further, Lovell says, the Administration’s refusal to cooperate with the experts at the Antigua Barbuda Investment Authority has contributed to its litany of failures.

If even a quarter of these projects had found success, he says, the country would have been more resilient in its post-pandemic recovery.

Prime Minister Browne, himself, has acknowledged that the country is in an unemployment crisis.

During the 2021 Budget Presentation, Browne, the Minister of Finance, said that “figures from the Social Security Scheme indicate a decline of nearly 40 per cent in the number of contributors.”

He added that this translated to about 11,000 fewer employed persons than at the start of 2020.

“The rapidly growing list of failed projects confirms that the ALP Administration is incapable of reducing unemployment and providing adequate jobs for the thousands of school-leavers and returning graduates,” the UPP’s statement concludes.

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In reiterating the Government’s commitment to get trains rolling full-time again in Jamaica, Transport and Mining Minister, Audley Shaw, says the revival of the rail service island-wide will cost “several hundred millions of US dollars”.

Of that cost, an estimated US$8 million will be required to construct a new bridge leading from the Corporate Area to Spanish Town in St Catherine, the minister disclosed.

While speaking during a recent tour of the Jamaica Railway Corporation’s (JRC) terminus in West Kingston, Shaw noted that Jamaica was the fourth country in the world to have a railway system, and said it is “unacceptable” that the country has not had none for approximately the last 30 years.

While noting that the revival of the rail system will be costly, Shaw said it will reduce the costs now with rehabilitating damaged road infrastructure.

“Our roads can’t keep up with the damage from all the goods that we have to transport. When we have railway lines, we can carry goods as well as people,” he indicated.

“So… I am going to revive the railway service and if we have to do it in partnership with overseas people who have technology and money, then we will carry out that partnership and get it done,” Shaw stressed.

“When I listen to the history, that Jamaica was the fourth country in the world to have a railway system and now we have none, it is totally unacceptable,” he added.

There are plans to restore the Kingston rail service, starting with a Culture Yard tour by 2023, under the Jamaica Social Intervention Community Rail Project which involves collaboration between the University of Technology Jamaica (UTech) and the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK).

Transport and Mining Minister, Audley Shaw (right), shares a short train ride with British High Commissioner to Jamaica, Judith Slater (left), and Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC) Board Director, Linton Johnson, during a recent tour of the JRC’s terminus in Kingston.

The plan is to transport passengers by train from Kingston to Three Miles and then to Culture Yard in Trench Town.

Other efforts have been made locally to get the train service going.

A school train service was started in January of this year, taking students from Old Harbour and Linstead to Spanish Town. From there, the students are transported to their respective schools in Spanish Town via Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses.

The move followed a similar effort that was launched by the Transport Ministry some years ago when the transport portfolio was held by Mike Henry.

In another attempt to reignite energy into the local rail system, head of the University of Technology’s (UTECH) School of Engineering, Oneil Josephs, who was also on the tour with Shaw, said the cooperation between the institution and the University of Birmingham will infuse significant technical knowledge and expertise into the Government’s rail restoration programme.

The universities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Jamaica Social Intervention Community Rail Project.

This initiative is geared at supporting community development while preserving and promoting the history of rail in Jamaica through museums and other educational outlets.

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