Lt. Col. David Burch should take over as Works and Engineering and Housing Minister, the Deputy Opposition Leader said yesterday as he called for the resignation of Minister Ashfield DeVent following the collapse of Bermuda Homes for People.

?The Minister should resign and probably turn it over to Col. Burch if that is what he wants to do,? Shadow Housing Minister Wayne Furbert said on the steps of Parliament.

He added, however, that responsibility should stretch to the Premier himself ? but it is clear Alex Scott does not have his hands on the issues facing Bermuda today.

Minister DeVent has struggled to deal with the thorny issues of affordable housing and the new senior school, he said.

?It shows you that the Government is in desperation,? Mr. Furbert said, charging that the Premier lets his junior Ministers take the blame for responsibilities which should ultimately fall to him.

Government has found itself in a hole with the housing issue, he said.

?They need to stop digging and start looking forward to see what they can do to solve the problem,? he said. ?Here we have a situation, Bermuda Homes for People (BHP) have now said they cannot do the project and Government has continuously told the country that they will be working along with BHP to get this situation sorted out.?

Opposition MP Maxwell Burgess warned Parliament two months ago that the BHP project was in trouble, Mr. Furbert said, and was called a liar.

?The Premier at that time stood up on the floor of the House and said for him to prove it and that he was lying,? he said. ?Well once again, as we did with the Bermuda Housing Corporation, it has been proved.

?What we are saying to the Premier, and for the Government to do, is come straight once and for all on what is happening for the BHP and what is happening with their project when it comes to building homes.?

He asked Government why people had to find out through the Press why BHP had failed and said that no one seems to know whether the project will survive.

If the project is to proceed, who will manage it, he asked.

?Who will be funding the project? What will the total cost be for the project? When will they break ground? How many homes will be built? What are they doing to ensure that the prices of the homes do not increase over the promised cost? And when will the homes be completed?? he asked.

The Opposition has been asking these questions for two years, he said.

?It appears the Government is trying to force the Bermuda Land Development Company to do something,? he said. ?BLDC and the Government should stand hand-in-hand (and come clean) about what is happening when it comes to building affordable homes down there in Southside.?