The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

HOUSING Minister Keith Bell has accused Free National Movement Garden Hills candidate Rick Fox of failing to deliver on an Abaco housing project tied to his company, sharpening a dispute over who is responsible for delays in a promised development once touted as a major boost to affordable housing.

Mr Bell, the Progressive Liberal Party’s candidate for Carmichael, used a rally on Gladstone Road on Monday night to question the status of commitments by Mr Fox’s company to build homes using carbon-negative materials.

“Where the factory? Where the 30 homes for Abaco? Where the 1000 homes?” Mr Bell said.

The project was first announced in 2022 through a memorandum of understanding between the government and Mr Fox’s company. The plan called for 30 homes in an initial phase, with the project scaling up to 1,000 homes over three years.

Mr Bell said the Davis administration supported the initiative through concessions and land, suggesting the lack of progress rested with the developer.

“And yes, there is the Crown Land,” Mr Bell said.

Mr Bell insisted the government had advanced housing projects across the country.

“What about housing? We restarted the programme. They shut down. We built homes, hundreds of homes,” he said.

He cited subdivisions in Carmichael, other projects underway, and homes delivered in Abaco and San Salvador as evidence of progress under the Davis administration.

“They talk homes. The PLP build homes,” Mr Bell said.

Mr Bell also questioned whether the opposition could deliver on promises to sharply increase housing output.

“If you could not deliver 30, how in the world you could deliver 5000?” he said.