BARBADOS' NEW PRISON is nine days in the making.

Work began on Friday, December 9, at Dodds Plantation, St Philip, on the basis of a 12-hour day, seven days a week.

Excavation is on schedule according to the project manager from C. O. Williams Construction, Tim Troulan.

The countdown board at the entrance of the site confirmed that a C. O. Williams Construction team had been working on the excavation for the past nine days.

"We started on December 9 and are working seven days a week, 12 hours a day. We will be working right through with only Christmas and New Year's Day off. The quicker we get this done, the better it would be for the security of the whole country," said Troulan.

The new prison is being constructed by the United States company, Veco Inc., and is expected to be completed by March 2007.

The 200-acre site will facilitate female and male inmates, a maximum security section and a remand centre.

The state-owned property was chosen because it was said to be the ideal size and is isolated, but some soon-to-be neighbours disagreed.

"The impact is mostly on our house. I don't want to move and I don't think anybody would want to buy a house next door to a prison. Knowing the amount of land Dodds has, I don't see why it can't be built further down so it's more remote," said Joseph Del Castilho.

His wife Joan agreed: "It's terrible. The value of our property
will go down. The prison will be higher up so they can look right into our house."

Not all the residents of the area agreed with the Del Castilhos. One neighbour who has been living there for 23 years said he understood the need to build a prison some place.

His consolation was that with a drop in value, his property taxes should also be lower.