Bermuda's "central park'' was planted on its garbage-strewn southern slope yesterday.

But it will most likely be another eight to ten years before the mammoth task of creating a park on the 23-acre refuse dump comes to fruition, Government officials conceded.

Works Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons and Environment Minister the Hon.

Gerald Simons were at the dump to plant the first tree, a Bermuda cedar.

(Picture on Page 3.) Over the next month 1,140 assorted trees will be planted by the $10-an-hour employees of the Government Works scheme.

The initial batch of trees -- cedars, oleanders, casuarinas and others were being planted on the southern slope facing Parsons Road to stabilise it, Mr.

Gibbons said.

"We are looking at planting in excess of 4,000 trees to cover the entire slope and more, costing between $8,000 and $10,000,'' he said.

Works Ministry landscape architect Mr. Roger Steffens said the park would have mostly "passive areas'' of woodland and grassland.

"There will be trees, jogging trails and horse trails. Around the perimeter will be more active with a playground and other things,'' Mr. Steffens said.

"It will be Bermuda's central park.'' Mr. Gibbons said the dump was gradually being closed with total shut-down expected by the end of the year. "We will be testing the incinerator until October,'' he said. "We don't anticipate any problems. But we don't want to close it and then have to re-open it.'' The landfill should be "grassed over'' in 12 months time, he said, noting some 30,000 cubic yards of soil and rock was needed to cover it first.

"That is one of the constraining factors,'' Mr. Simons noted. Most of the earth was being obtained through composting.

When the dump would be ready for use as a park was "yet to be defined'', Mr.

Gibbons said.

"It's an eight to ten-year development project. There's a lot of work to be done,'' he said.

The Government-commissioned 1987 Harvard study would be used as a basic blueprint for the park. But there was still much research and design work to be done, he said.

"The plan has also not been costed out yet,'' he said, agreeing it could cost up to $1 million.

"To close the dump is not just a matter of stopping trucks from dumping,'' Mr. Gibbons said.

Government had been planning for the dump's closure for years. But a three-year delay in the construction start-up of the controversial Tynes Bay waste incinerator had slowed down plans for the park, he said.