Government admitted last night the already delayed lottery winners’ will have to wait another year before moving in after plans for the housing changed.

Despite a ground-breaking ceremony yesterday, Burch admitted no contractor was employed yet and no planning permission has been submitted for the new plans.

Last night lottery winners who expected to be living in the new housing reacted with dismay at the delay and the change in plans.

One said: “They promised us a two-storey house and a driveway. We were going to own our own homes, but now they’re telling us its an apartment. But I don’t know what to do because I’ve been waiting for this for two years.”

On June 3, 2005, over two years ago, 98 lottery winners received promises of 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, or 4-bedroom townhouses that would be sold to them for $199,000.

The project, which was spearheaded by Bermuda Homes for People, struggled when the company went insolvent in September the same year. Further problems arose when tenants who were already on 12 acres of the over 16-acre plot of land devoted to the project protested and Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC), which owned the land refused to sell.

The BLDC eventually gave the land towards the project, however it was only four-acres, which meant the townhouses originally planned had to be down-sized.

The plan, which was revealed to lottery winners in a closed meeting two weeks ago, showed changes from two-storey townhouses to one-storey apartments in 6 apartment blocks with 4-bedroom units, 3-bedroom units and two-bedroom units.

Planning permission for these changes, however, have not been submitted though it was revealed yesterday the department was aware of the revisions and they would be fast-tracked.

At the ground breaking Senator Burch also admitted problems had also been incurred at the current site due to a 540,000 gallon diesel barrel at the site.

He said: “There is a major trimming in terms of concept because Originally it was planned to be across the street on the waterside um but there was a number of challenges with that site not the least of which is that there are still tenants.

“And so when Bermuda Homes for People went bankrupt. We looked at how we could still carry out the project as quickly as we could.

“We had architects look at what units we could place on this site and came up with the 108 which means instead of the 200 that was originally planned for across the street, there will be 108 here in affordable homes.

“And the 100 will come online in other ways in various locations to support this project.”

The other properties that will support the affordable homes include the $3.8 million dollar sale of Westcott to Trinity Contractors for the 3- acres of land, plus the 54 middle-class homes and the 11 rehabilitated Southside cottages. And for the next six to eight weeks the site will be levelled, cleared and excavated before building starts in September.

Last night, however,Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Jon Brunson said: “Today’s so-called “ground-breaking” at the Harbour View Village is nothing but a hollow pre-election photo-op. It is not about housing completions; it’s about ground clearing for a project that is still a long way from bricks and mortar. The Harbour View lottery winners - who have now waited two years for the government to come good on its promise of housing - were informed a few weeks ago that the project would not be tendered for construction until August.

“They don’t want to see another groundbreaking ceremony. They want to see ribbon-cutting ceremonies. But they can’t because the government has not completed one significant housing project during the nine-year housing crisis.”