The Opposition has condemned the Government’s decision to rent out units at the Bermudiana Beach Resort as residences at prices that are out of reach to many Bermudians.

Craig Cannonier, the One Bermuda Alliance Shadow Minister of Public Works, spoke out following an announcement by public works minister Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch yesterday that it had jettisoned plans to run the development as a hotel at the eleventh hour.

Instead, Colonel Burch said that the 94 units will be rented out — and be targeted at the international business sector.

He added that rents are expected to start at $3,000 per month for a studio, rising to $7,000 for a three-bedroom apartment.

Colonel Burch said: “The aim now is to get as high a return as one can to mitigate the investment.”

At a press conference today, Mr Cannonier, accused the Government of repeatedly failing on the project — at a $100 million cost to the taxpayer — and abandoning the people most in need.

He said: “I believe that the promise of making these units for low cost housing should happen. It was a noble thing to do, a noble thing to do.

“I said months ago to the minister, ‘listen, you need to go back to your original plan. This is built for low cost housing. You need to give it back to the taxpayers of this island. Take the hit, take it now. Don't wait, take the hit now. Don't spend $100 million going forward. Take the hit now and provide low cost housing. You have the units already there’.

“They are abandoning their own promise to those in need.

“Take a look at the pricing that we’re talking about.

“Imagine a studio that we're renting out for $3,000 a month. It used to be about $1,000 a room for rent right? And now we’re going to give you a studio for $3,000.

“When the question was asked at the press conference yesterday, the answer was ‘well, you know, we have people in the civil service that we trying to hire to bring to Bermuda and we can’t find housing for them, so we’re going to build these units so that we can put those people into those units’.

“The details came out as he [Colonel Burch] continued to talk. ‘Well, you know, we're going to fill this place up with $7,000 rents. And you know, there are people who are coming to visit Bermuda to work and they can't find housing’.”

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