Winners of a lottery to buy homes at prices far below market value were assured last night by the Housing Minister that the homes would be built ? even if it kills him.

Housing Minister Senator David Burch met with lottery winners at the New Testament Church of God and promised the hopeful owners that the homes would be built by the end of 2006.

It has been over a year since 98 Bermudians won a chance to buy $199,000 homes at the Southside housing project Harbourside Village.

The project was originally organised by the now defunct Bermuda Homes for People group, which collapsed on September 8, 2005, due to financial difficulties.

At a first public meeting in December, Sen. Burch sought to reassure the winners that the Government quango, Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC), would be able to take on the $80 million project.

The media were not permitted to sit in the Minister?s meeting with the lottery winners last night, however, a number of participants told as they left that they felt reassured by Sen. Burch?s comments.

?He did give one statement, that he would die first before he let go of this project ? over his dead body pretty much,? a lottery winner, who refused to be named, said. ?Those were his words. So if he?s dead in three months, we know what happened.?

Another winner said she was happy to have heard the story straight ?from the horse?s mouth? although there still seems to be uncertainty around the project.

?He didn?t have the answers to anything really,? she said. ?The most important thing he could not give us was who the contractors were going to be. He couldn?t give us exactly when they are going to start building or how come it?s taking this long.?

However, Sen. Burch told he already has three contractors waiting to start building the development.

?We, in anticipation of getting approval, shared the revised plans with three contractors who have indicated to us that they wanted to contribute,? the Minister said.

Sen. Burch admitted that some of the lottery winners are getting impatient.

?I think the level of frustration is still there, understandably so. But I think they are encouraged that there is movement,? he said.

?We do have some legal challenges ? just internally in the bureaucracy of Government ? which we will work through.?

Conservatively, he said Government would break ground on Harbourside Village by the end of the year. Sen. Burch said BLDC would take the lead in the development and that HSBC/Bank of Bermuda has already indicated its support of the project.

He said Cabinet approved the Harbourside Village plan about two weeks ago, which will now be built further away from Marginal Wharf near Southside Road.

?But I am encouraged that, where we are building, there were buildings there before. So, a lot of the infrastructure is there and we have no rehabilitation issues. We should be in pretty good shape. They will be looking down on a new Police Station.?

The main thing the lottery winners wanted to know, however, was when homes would be built, and Sen. Burch said he is working on getting answers for them.

?I have had some initial indications from BLDC, in terms of a time line, but I think always they are too conservative,? he said.

?I want to have a robust discussion across the table with them to say that ?this is not good enough? and watch them go through conniptions.?

Overall, he said the meeting with lottery winners was productive. ?I wanted to have this opportunity to share with them first, where we are,? he said.

?They are the key stakeholders. I was very pleased with the turnout. I was very pleased with the questions they asked, the concerns that they shared and the optimism.?

Minister of National Drug Control Wayne Perinchief was also in attendance last night, representing a lottery winner. ?Their hope has been restored in the project,? he said.