UBP leaderchallenged the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2) Act 2004 in the House of Assembly on Friday, saying he felt the House needed to hear specifics of the Amendment before it could be passed.

?What distresses us a little bit about the Amendment we?re making is that there is still no comprehensive Housing plan which has been brought to this House, or even brought to the public by the Government of Bermuda,? he said.

?The issue that we feel needs to be addressed, from an accountability perspective, is how does this fit in with the overall approach that the Government is going to take, because even though we?re talking about incentives Mr. Speaker we?re talking about real money here which is essentially being deferred, or I should say, not collected by Government and in fact represents in many respects, lost revenue.?

He added that in the interests of transparency and accountability to the taxpayer more should be heard from the Minister of Finance about the specifics of this particular plan.

?While I understood that we will have more chance to debate in committee, we are talking about a private sector initiative, particularly in terms of Bermuda Homes For People Limited, which is something Government appears to be supporting, but has been at the centre of a lot of controversy down at Southside in the last few months,? he said.

Dr. Gibbons wanted to know how much Customs duty the Minister of Finance was willing to give up and why this particular project merited taxpayers money being deferred, or not collected.

He added that it was suggested that of the 200 homes, 100 are anticipated to be sold for market prices, or at about $600,000 each, while the remaining 100 would be sold for below market prices.

?We need to have a sense at the cost of that project in terms of materials because that is the duty relief we?re giving here,? he said. ?We need to know what the materials are likely to cost and what the estimated Customs duty will be that we are essentially giving up.?

Dr. Gibbons said he understood that the cost of building the houses would be something in the order of $50 million, adding that materials are normally dutiable at about 22.25 percent.

He added that when he took into account what labour would cost, then he estimated that only $25 million of the cost of the project would go towards materials and at the dutiable percentage that would mean the taxpayer would be giving up $5 million.

Dr. Gibbons also queried the property in question ? an estimated 16 acres of waterfront property, estimated in value at close to $2 million an acre.

?The taxpayer is also contributing to this project something in the order of $30 million in terms of the value of the property,? he said. ?At the very least we should understand what the terms of the lease may be with Bermuda Homes for People. I expect it to be a lease because if we?re talking about some conveyance of freehold that raises huge issues in respect to the rights of the people of St. David?s who gave up that land so the US military some 60-plus years ago.?

Dr. Gibbons said he needed an understanding of what the lease-hold was that Government was looking at and what would happen to the tenants who were currently located on these properties.

?I?ve heard very little about that in recent weeks except for a hint in the Press that now Bermuda Homes For People is not going to pay for the relocation costs of some 15 or 30 businesses down there and I understand that can be quite significant, something in the order of three quarters of a billion dollars,? he said.

Dr. Gibbons queried stamp duties on the properties and whether or not there would be any constraints on the resale of properties, particularly at the market price and whether or not there would be any conditions put on the market price homes being made available to first time home buyers only.

In closing, Dr. Gibbons re-iterated the need to know how this project would fit into the overall housing plan. ?Because if there is a plan, we certainly haven?t heard it,? he said.