Government hopes to bring more than 240 housing units online before the end of 2009, with the majority completed within the next two years, Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent announced yesterday.

He also announced that legislation allowing the BHC to issues leases for up to 125 years on BHC properties will soon be placed before the House of Assembly. Currently BHC leases can only run up to 35 years, while revealing that BHC financial statements for the last three years will be tabled at the conclusion of the Budget debate in two weeks.

Vigorously defending the reformation of the BHC over the past few years, Mr. DeVent said good corporate governance and transparency have been returned to the quango.

More co-operation with agencies such as Financial Assistance and others within the Ministry of Health will also ensure the BHC can help its clients to tackle all aspects of a situation that can leave someone in need of housing, he said.

The Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) has already re-started capital development after it was interrupted in 2002, he said during the Budget debate on the BHC in the House of Assembly.

Two new construction projects and two major renovation projects are in the works which will give rise to 33 units for a total cost of $9,428,000.

Those projects included major renovations at Sandhurst (six units), new construction at Orange Hole (three units), new construction at Butterfield Lane (eight units), and major renovations at the "infamous" Anchorage Road (16 units).

The Sandhurst renovations in St. George's are scheduled for completion by the end of May 2005, Mr DeVent said.

Those renovations, costing $1,747,000, include total upgrading of the four original apartments and the creation of two new apartments.

The BHC, along with the Historical Society and the Corporation of St. George's, have worked to ensure the facade of the historical building is preserved. All utility lines will also be located underground during the renovation work.

The three units at Orange Hole in Southside, St. David's, are also scheduled for completion by the end of May 2005, with a price tag of $1,017,000, while the eight units at Butterfield Lane in Sandy's are scheduled for completion by the end of July 2005 at $1,845,000. Butterfield Lane is also to be widened to allow access to the area by emergency vehicles.

The Anchorage Road project started in mid-January this year, Mr. DeVent said, and is hoped to be completed by July 2006 to the tune of $4,819,000.

The 16 two-bedroom units will be contained in four blocks of four units each, with an additional bedroom added to each of the eight existing one-bedroom units to create the finished product. A retaining wall is to be built in front of the units to reclaim land for additional outdoor communal space, while new tanks will be dug for each block.

The BHC will also continue to partner with the private sector through the private sector rental programme, Mr. DeVent said.

One programme will have 12 units at the corner of Court and Ewing streets available to rental clients of the BHC by May 1, 2005, he said.

One mandate of the quango is to decrease its dependence on Government funding, he said. With that in mind, the BHC plans to fund several other new housing developments in part, if not in their entirety, through private means.

Six two-bedroom units at Ewing Street, Hamilton, are one example. The units, costing approximately $2,100,000, have a start date of April 2005 and are estimated to take 12 months to complete. Planning permission and building permits have already been obtained for the project, which has been tendered and a contractor selected, though the contract remains to be finalised.

Three units at Battery Road, St. David's, will start by mid-2005 and take five months to complete while costing about $600,000.

Those units, the Minister revealed, will result mostly from internal changes to a structure formerly used as a church.

The high ceilings in the building allowed for three apartments as opposed to the two that would be possible if the building were lower. Planning permission and building permits have been received while the next phase will be to put the project out to tender.

Southside will see 38 units in the future for shared rooming and emergency purposes, the Minister said.

The units will be housed in two separate buildings; one for women and children, and the other for families.

The Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC) will be leasing 1.6 acres of land for the project to the BHC. Planning approval is anticipated by the end of the summer, and that the project will begin by the end of 2005.

St. George's will also see the development of approximately 41 BHC townhouse units at various BHC properties. Proposals from architects are currently being sought and Mr. DeVent said he anticipated the first of the developments will begin by the end of the year, with the remaining projects starting by the first half of 2006.

Mr. DeVent expanded on plans to build 38 units at Perimeter Lane in Pembroke, saying the plans are awaiting Planning approval.

The project is hoped to start in late 2005 and will take two to three years to complete at a price tag of $11,300,000, he said.

The BHC has arranged a meeting with area residents and their Members of Parliament to discuss the development and hear their concerns for 5.30 p.m. on March 9.

Vociferous protests from Mary Victoria and Alexandra Roads residents last year resulting in Mr. DeVent withdrawing a proposal for 34 units at those developments for reconsideration. The plans are being revised and will be re-submitted to Planning in the very near future, Mr. DeVent revealed yesterday.

The number of units has been reduced to 22 at an estimated cost of $5,850,000. "I will be arranging to meet with the area residents to discuss the plan to start construction," Mr. DeVent said.

Funds raised privately by the BHC will also be poured into a 70-unit development in North Hamilton scheduled to start in late 2006, Mr. DeVent said.

The proposal under consideration calls for a mixed residential and commercial development of three separate buildings.

The project, which could take two and a half years to complete, is at the conceptual stage, the Minister said, with the commissioning of a feasibility study being the next step.

"For those planned developments just outlined that do not meet the criteria of the private sector lending institutions," Mr. DeVent said, "the Government stands ready to provide whatever assistance that is needed to the BHC to ensure such projects happen."

Meanwhile, mid- and high-rise developments must be looked to for the future if what little open spaces remaining are to be protected, he said.