The St. George's Foundation is hoping Government will soon announce it is making a major cash contribution towards its plans to renovate the Old Town.

Through private fund-raising, the Foundation has pulled in more than $5 million towards the $20 million it needs for four main projects at the World Heritage Site.

On Saturday, the Foundation will step up a gear by publicly launching its capital campaign by officially signing the lease for the Queen's Warehouse - which will house the new visitor centre - and hand over a symbolic bale of cotton to the Corporation of St. George.

Premier Jennifer Smith has been invited and Foundation chairman David Rowntree said he was hopeful she would make an announcement about funding.

"Government has been approached, the Premier will be there, and we hope she may well have something to say," he said yesterday.

"Dockyard has had about $40 million and I think its St. George's turn. What we were asking is nowhere near that amount, and we hope that Government will come aboard to assist us.

"Government has been very supportive through Works and Engineering and with the Bank of Bermuda through the restoration of Customs House Square.

"We are not suggesting Government hasn't been doing anything, but we hope they can come on board more."

The visitor centre is expected to cost $6.5 million and be open in two years. The other projects are the development of the waterfront, and the refurbishment of historic streets and buildings.

Mr. Rowntree said the Foundation had 530 members and he had been delighted by the level of enthusiasm shown for the project since it was launched five years ago.

It is hoped the handing over of the bale of cotton to the Corporation each year will become a tourist attraction similar to the Peppercorn ceremony.

He described St. George's as "a diamond in the rough, and we want to polish it up to make it more presentable to our tourists and Bermudians as well".

Guest speaker at the reception on Saturday to launch the capital campaign will be American philanthropist H. Benson Dendy III, the chairman of the historic Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Board of Trustees.

Mr. Dendy is also a member of the Foundation's capital campaign.

Other guests include Governor Sir John Vereker and his wife Lady Vereker, and opposition and government politicians.