Montego Bay: A contractor is expected to be selected soon for the construction of houses for the Providence Heights, St James leg of the government’s controversial Relocation 2000 programme.

“Tenders have now been received for the construction of the houses. These are being evaluated, and they will shortly be submitted for the consideration of the National Contracts Commission so that a contractor can be selected,” Prime Minister P J Patterson told journalists in Montego Bay Tuesday.

He added that infrastructural work was underway for the site that will house about 300 households now located in the depressed communities of Barracks Road and Railway Lane.

“The pathways have been cut to sub-base, the site is a bit stony and they are getting the equipment to proceed to the trenching and the provision of water mains,” the Prime Minister explained.

Patterson launched Relocation 2000 two years ago, and it was sold as a project that would remove those living in three depressed areas of the country to more suitable accommodations.

But the St James leg, which was slated to be the first to get underway, ran into problems almost immediately. Area residents from the Cornwall Court community, the site originally selected to house those transplanted from Railway Lane and Barracks Road, made it clear that they were not in favour of the proposed move.

A frantic search was then launched for an alternate site and the Joe Witter-owned Provident Heights land was selected. But the project was further delayed as the price of the land acquisition was worked out, and the difficult terrain made progress slow after work got underway in May of this year. By then, the project was already nine months behind schedule, but Kingsley Thomas, chairman of the implementing agency, the National Housing Trust, was optimistic that some residents would still have been able to move into their new homes by the end of the year.

But with Patterson’s announcement that the tender process is yet to be completed, that deadline now appears doubtful.