Contractor gives his side

THE BUILDING contractor who was hired by the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) to construct low-income houses for its members at Mangrove, St Philip, says he has done everything above board.

Austin Bayley of Beautiful Environmental Homes (BEH) met with the SUNDAY SUN along with a spokesman for his company, who requested anonymity, in order to clear the air following an article carried last week, when some of the prospective homeowners complained that after making down payments for their homes to be built in 2009, five years later the houses were still not completed.

Bayley said contrary to statements made by the BWU that his company was supposed to build the homes and then be paid after the homeowners had secured mortgages, the BWU was aware that the houses were supposed to be built in stage payments, with cash secured from the homeowners.

He explained that BEH received permission from the Town & Country Planning Department to construct 23 houses, what was supposed to be a partnership between his company and the BWU.

Please read the full story in today’s SUNDAY SUN, or in the eNATION edition.