RICKY MARTIN - BIG SUCCESS FOR RICKY MARTIN'S THAI HOUSE PROJECT

Pop star RICKY MARTIN is well on his way to achieving his goal of building 600 homes for 600 Thai families rendered homeless by the December (04) tsunami - 60 houses have already been built.

The LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA singer's children's foundation has forged an alliance with housebuilding charity Habitat For Humanity in a bid to rehouse as many displaced families as possible.

And, in less than a year, work has started on almost half the homes, and Martin has just handed over the keys to 60 new properties which his foundation has helped to build.

The singer admits the job wasn't as tough as he had initially thought it would be when he set himself the challenge - because Thai government officials have gone out of their way to help.

He explains, "I have to thank the government of Thailand because they donated the land. They got the land ready for us to start building on."

Martin, who was among the first celebrities to offer help to the devastated families in Thailand, recently revisited the country to witness the work done on his charity homes.

He says, "More than a 1,000 people have been working on this project, literally, from all over the world, to put their work and love into the construction."