Pembroke Marsh Park won't be completed within the next decade Works and Engineering and Housing Minister David Burch has warned.

Plans to build a park on the site off Parsons Road and Dutton Avenue, which is now used to process agricultural waste, have been around for more than ten years.

Asked about the time line for finishing the park he said: "I think you are looking at a decade if you start it now."

However late last year the Ministry of Environment said work on Pembroke Marsh Park will not start until 2008 at the earliest.

It said the old Pembroke dump will continue to be an active compost site for the next three to four years until another location for composting is found.

Building a nature reserve on the side of the marsh near Dutton Avenue ? running beside Bernard Park ? is ongoing while the Desert Field Development off Glebe Road is targeted to begin in 2006 or 2007.

The main and final phase, converting the old Pembroke dump into a large park area, is not due to start until 2008 or 2009.

The Environment Ministry said heat dissipation, drainage and subsidence of composted material all had to be addressed before the park can be created.

Senator Burch said Government might resort to charging people for tipping in order to speed up clearance.

He told : "There are issues, essentially what you need is real estate to replace the composting which goes on there.

"At the moment you can deliver cuttings and the like for free. We are encouraging people to increase the level of mulching where they cut to reduce the demand for it.

"The next step will be to charge for tipping. But before we get to that next stage let's see if we can't reduce what we are sending there. If there is a complete rejection of that proposal we will institute tipping fees.

"But it makes sense to mulch where you are and save on gas and time on the road. There are financial benefits for them working with us."

Animal carcass and solid waste disposal including kitchen food would also have to be done elsewhere said Sen. Burch who said he was as keen as anyone to get the park finished.

Recycling initiatives will help said the Minister who also revealed Government was about to hire a consultant to advise on buying a third stream at Tynes Bay incinerator which could dramatically increase the amount of electricity it sells to Belco.

But he urged Bermudians to cut down on waste and said his Ministry had an education officer who was working on a plan to increase recycling in Works and Engineering. The ideas will then be spread throughout Government and to the public.