And about 30 Bermudians will be starting work at the plant soon.

Mr. Stephen Hunt, the engineer in charge of the $70-million project for the Ministry of Works and Engineering, said that by this summer, much of the Island's garbage would be taken to the Palmetto Road plant, instead of the Pembroke Dump.

The incinerator was nearly completed and "cold commissioning'' was under way, he said.

However, "it's not just a matter of switching it on one day and everything is working,'' Mr. Hunt said. "Looking at the larger picture, it will be towards the end of this year before it takes over as the primary waste treatment facility.'' While "firing up'' the incinerator was the ultimate goal, the plant first had to be tested without waste burning in its furnace, he said.

Test signals would be used to test computers, electric motors, pumps, switch gears, and all the systems that controlled the plant, he said.

"Once all that is through, then it will be time to begin the hot combustion process.'' It was not yet decided when "hot'' commissioning would begin, but hot and cold testing together would extend over the next two to three months.

The plant's power supply was turned on in January, he said. Once it was up and running, the incinerator would actually send surplus electricity to the Belco power grid.

All the heavy construction was completed, Mr. Hunt said. Road work and asphalt paving would be finished in the next few weeks. Construction had begun on a public waste depot on Palmetto Road.

Hiring was nearly completed, a Works and Engineering spokesman said. Between 27 and 30 workers would keep waste in the incinerator burning 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the spokesman said.

All were Bermudians, except for a few who were spouses of Bermudians, he said.

Two were already working and the rest would be starting in the next couple of months.

Mr. Hunt could not say whether the over-all $70-million budget for the project would be exceeded. "I think we can say that it is within budget within the original scope of the contract.'' The construction contract portion of the total figure was $55 million. Von Roll Ltd. of Switzerland, the main contractor, and Pihl and Son of Denmark, the civil engineering contractor, were still on site, he said.

Von Roll would stay until the end of the year, while the Danish company's work was "in the very late stages.'' Each of the incinerator's two chambers can burn six tons of waste each hour.

Two complete systems were built to handle peaks and so that one keeps working when the other is shut down for maintenance.