Controversy seems to be brewing with prospective homeowners of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) housing project at Mangrove.The DAILY NATION understands from two people who have been allotted houses that they are not satisfied with the progress of the work being done and are tired of getting the runaround from those in charge of the project.Patrick Kinch is one such owner who is fed up with the situation. Kinch, who was designated Lot 56 through building contractor Austin Bailey, said he had already paid out $55 000 to the contractor, and yet the house still did not have the floor cast.
Monies paid a year ago
He said he expected more would have been done by now as more than a year had passed since he had paid the money in May 2009.The monies paid were to cover $50 000 for the downpayment of building the house, while the other $5 000 was for the lawyer’s fees. Since then the lawyer had to leave the island, and Kinch said that Bailey “put him on to two other lawyers”, and now he had no idea who was dealing with the legal documents at the present time or what stage the legal process had reached.Kinch said that he had expected that by now he would be living in the brand new three-bedroom, two-bathroom wall house. He said he turned to the BWU to get information, but the response “was not very positive”.“This is a while now I have been trying to hear from someone at the BWU on what is the position with these houses, but no one seems to be able to tell me what is going on,” he lamented.Edward Cummings, who was assigned Lot 58, is also very annoyed. But his situation is very different.Cummings, who entered into the agreement with the BWU, says he met with them and dealt with them on the purchase of the land.“The BWU were the ones that made the choices. They told us that Mr Bailey was building the houses and we were instructed to go to the show house, see it, meet with Mr Bailey and select our lots,” he said. This, he said, was done since last year.Cummings said the 10 per cent downpayment was sent to the BWU for the land but he was advised by his lawyer not to enter into a “building arrangement” until the sale of the land was completed. However, they are yet to get the necessary documents from Mr Edmund King, BWU’s lawyer.Cummings said others who had been given houses had also decided among themselves that something had to be done, and had met with Sir Roy Trotman and voiced their concerns over the housing project.When contacted, Bailey refused to give a comment, saying he would be speaking with his lawyer.Sir Roy Trotman told the DAILY NATION back in January this year that after having being plagued with difficulties, including a dispute with the original contractor over high house prices, “the administrative issues had been sorted out, and the Barbados Workers’ Union was pushing ahead with its housing project at Mangrove, St Philip”.It was said that the joint venture between the union and Beautiful Environmental Homes should be completed by year-end.Efforts to reach Sir Roy Trotman yesterday for a further comment proved futile. (CT)