An environmental campaigner has called for greater transparency over Southlands and Morgan's Point.

Stuart Hayward, chairman of the Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST), said the public are still "in the dark" as to what is going to happen to the two pieces of land.

"It's been 16 months since the land transfer between Morgan's Point and Southlands and there is still no forward motion on this," he said.

"The public had an expectation that Southlands was going to become a public park, and without any closure there is always the worry that there is some other plan for it."

Mr. Hayward pointed to the fact that the 27-acre South Shore estate is still zoned as Tourism and Residential One under the Draft Bermuda Plan 2008.

"In order to allay fears and suspicions, the land swap between Southlands and Morgan's Point needs to be completed and made public," he said.

"The land needs to be put under protective zoning."

Mr. Hayward said there was also a rumour circulating that Correia Construction had been awarded an $80 million contract for the environmental clean-up of Morgan's Point.

"Without any public notice of a tendering process, people are in the dark," said Mr. Hayward.

But last night Dennis Correia of Correia Construction denied that was the case.

"Correia will be bidding on the job as part of a Bermuda consortium," he said.

"Tenders came out last week and the bids are due on September 17."

Premier Dr. Ewart Brown has stated taxpayers are to fund the clean-up of the former US Naval Air Station.

Any environmental remediation is likely to run into the millions. Whoever is awarded the work faces significant challenges, including 500,000 gallons of jet fuel and a two foot layer of viscous oil on the surface of Bassett's Cave.

Storage tanks used to store petroleum products such as lubricating oils, diesel, kerosene and jet fuel have also cracked and corroded over time, resulting in leaks.

In addition, Morgan's Point has concrete sea plane ramps and reinforced buildings with walls several feet thick — some of which contain asbestos.

Government invited contractors to apply for tender by submitting a 'Request for Qualification' to Government last November. Those interested were asked to obtain a pre-qualification package from the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

The Royal Gazette asked the Ministry how many applicants have expressed an interest, but received no response by the time of going to press last night.

Robert Horton, Ministry of Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary, told this newspaper in April: "Pre-qualification of prospective contractors has been completed to date. Applications for demolition of buildings and asbestos removal will be submitted to the Department of Planning shortly."

Yesterday Craig Christensen, one of the three owners of Southlands Ltd., said plans for a $1 billion resort at Morgan's Point were "still progressing, very much so".

"We are moving along fine, and the plans are in good shape."

Speaking from Canada where he is on vacation, he said: "There's been a number of people who have contacted me recently who are coming down to Bermuda to put a bid in for the clean-up.

"People are coming down to do a site visit at Morgan's Point prior to making a submission for a contract. The site visit is part of the due diligence process for a Request for Proposal (RFP)."

In March, Junior Minister for Tourism and the Environment Marc Bean told the Senate: "The land swap agreement (to exchange 37 acres at Southlands for 80 acres at Morgan's Point) remains between Southlands Ltd. and the Government of Bermuda, and is the subject of ongoing discussions between the parties.

"Pursuant to the stated intention of Government, upon completion of the land swap agreement the land known as Southlands will be designated a national park."