Housing remains a top priority at the Ministry of Works and Engineering, with Junior Housing Minister Raymond Tannock detailing again plans to build more than 200 homes over the next four years in the Senate yesterday.

In the meantime, Sen. Tannock said a multitude of opportunities for young Bermudians to receive hands-on training and job experience abound at the Ministry, while existing staff at Works and Engineering received praise from all sides of the Senate table.

However Sen. Tannock's declaration that there had been "no coordinated effort" to address the housing crisis "until this Government came into power" left Opposition Senate Leader Kim Swan sputtering during the Senate debate on Works and Engineering.

The newly-appointed committee of leaders from all the Government quangos as well as the Department of Planning and the Ministry itself are making "excellent progress" in their development of a Five-Year Master Plan for Housing, Sen. Tannock said. The team will co-ordinate delivery of the plan once it is laid out, working with financial institutions and suppliers to see the various projects through.

They will report to Cabinet monthly and seek Cabinet approval for "each and every milestone", Sen. Tannock said.

In the meantime, the division of Lands, Buildings and Surveys within the Ministry is working on a database of housing for the Island as Government ups the ante on landlords who are letting units which could be made available stand empty.

Agreeing with Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent, Independent Sen. Carol Ann Bassett said Bermudians have to change their mindsets regarding housing and accept that times demand development to move not out, but up.

However Opposition Sen. Bob Richards said Bermudians need houses now, not in several years. "Government just can't seem to get their heads into the game," he said.

Sen. Tannock also revealed details on several other capital projects in the works.

The total allocated funds (TAF) for work on all middle schools, including Dellwood, stands at nearly $47 million, he said.

Construction on a new Police Headquarters is scheduled to start in 2008/09 to a TAF of nearly $58 million. Planning approval has been received for the $43 million Hamilton Police Station and Magistrates' Court, while a $10 million office complex designed along the same lines is also being planned for Church and Court Streets .

In response to questions from Senate President Alf Oughton and Independent Senator Carol Ann Bassett, Sen. Tannock said detailed designs for the third stream at the Tynes Bay incinerator are expected in 2006/07, with the entire project finishing possibly in 2009. Government plans to develop the Marsh Folly area into some sort of open space format, he said, though he had no further details at the time.