CONSTRUCTION and other problems with Government's Upper Barbarees Hill, St Michael housing development are getting some attention today.

This will happen during an afternoon meeting that Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley and officials of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) are having with some people offered homes there.

Lashley declined comment on the meeting to be held at the NHC but said he was prepared to talk to the media afterwards.

Lawyer Robert "Bobby" Clarke, who represents many of the Emmerton, St Michael residents Government has been transferring to Barbarees Hill, told the DAILY NATION: "We are hoping to bring some closure to this aspect of the Emmerton resettlement programme."

He added: "A lot of the houses in Barbarees Hill are smaller than what Emmerton residents had, to the point where they can't accommodate all the original furniture, and washing machines have to be put outside.

"There are also some defects in terms of the kind of layout and dimensions people living around the Sewage Plant had expected to be included in their new homes."

At least 11 homes and a number of rental units in the tenements are still empty, more than a year after Government completed the second phase of the Upper Barbarees Hill housing project.

Clarke said a number of Emmerton property owners assigned homes had refused to move in until the NHC made "certain adjustments" to the buildings.

"'We are hoping that Mr Lashley and NHC officials will sort out whatever problems remain in Barbarees Hill so we can move on to the next phase of the resettlement programme," Clarke said.

He added: "We have taken several years to get to this stage, and we do not want to spend another two of three years before the remaining people living near the Sewage Plant, who number more than 100, are moved.

"But Government has not indicated that it has set aside land anywhere for this project or is in the process of acquiring land for this purpose. Meantime, people continue to get sick from the stench coming from the plant so we would like them moved as early as yesterday." (TY)