By KARL E CUPID Tobago Bureau Monday, April 7 2008

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Tree cutter: A workman steadies himself with only a belt harness as he cuts the branches of a palm tree on the grounds of the Hilton Trinidad, St Ann'...

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) plans to stop using the services of small contractors on Tobago housing projects because of their poor performance record, Secretary of Settlements and Labour, Aldington Spencer, announced last Thursday.

Spencer said small contractors had not delivered on housing development projects in Roxborough, Blenheim and Castara. “Whereas the THA took a conscious decision to employ small contractors, we are going to move away from that policy as the assembly is now focused on delivery. The majority of them (small contractors) did not perform well on the (housing development) sites at Roxborough, Blenheim and Castara,” Spencer reported at the post-THA Executive Council meeting in Scarborough.

He said these projects are behind schedule and have been affected by a lack of skilled labour. He said the Roxborough project had been slowed down by problems on the installation of a waste disposal system and remedial work on the infrastructure at the site also had to be done. The Roxborough project has been under construction for close to two years.

However, Spencer said 60 of the 77 houses that are part of the Roxborough development should be ready for occupation by the end of April. Thirty out of 61 units at Blenheim and 20 out of 34 units at Castara should also be completed by this time, he added. Spencer reported there are more than 1,600 applicants for houses on these three projects: 1,311 for Blenheim, 240 for Roxborough and 129 applicants for Castara. He said the process of distribution would be done by random draws, with a quota of the houses being reserved for residents of the districts and members of the protective services.

Spencer also revealed that over 200 additional housing lots at Castara and Blenheim may be sold to members of the public who would construct their own homes.

A new housing project at the Adventure estate in Plymouth is expected to begin by the end of the month. Other housing projects due to come on stream this year are the Speyside, Louis D’Or and Belle Garden developments which would provide 300 houses.

The project at the Courland estate in north west Tobago, which was purchased by the THA about one year ago, is earmarked for start-up by June, Spencer reported.