The plan to build a new town on the deserted military base of Morgan's Point is evidence Government is giving up on tourism says Opposition leader Grant Gibbons.

Works and Engineering Minister Terry Lister said last week Government had lost patience with grand schemes for leisure complexes which never materialise.

But Dr. Gibbons said Bermuda needed a large leisure project to act as a catalyst for the struggling tourism industry.

He said: "It seems like Government is very close to signing the death warrant for the tourism industry.

"This is the last large open site suitable for a major entertainment and tourism project."

He said a leisure complex would revitalise tourism and create jobs and opportunities for business.

Dr. Gibbons said Government had failed to seal a deal despite three major projects being mooted in the last five years for the 250-acre Southampton peninsula which juts into the Great Sound.

And this was despite micromanaging from four ministers who had relegated the role of the Bermuda Land Development Corporation which was set up to develop former military bases said Dr. Gibbons.

"Over the last five years tourism had declined significantly, tourism is in crisis."

Bermuda should follow the example of the Bahamas where the Atlantis resort on Paradise island had boosted tourism said Dr. Gibbons.

"It really jump-started Bahamas tourism industry about five years ago. That was an example of where a large tourism resort has significantly helped the economy.

"It creates a lot of buzz and excitement in the industry."

He said the resort, which has golf, tennis, shopping and watersports, accounted for around ten percent of the Caribbean island's gross domestic product.

Mr. Lister told Friday's The Royal Gazette that Bermuda was too small for a large resort project but Dr. Gibbons countered: "It isn't too big for Bermuda, it is too big for the PLP.

"They are unable to close the deal with any of the developers."

The advantage of large resort projects was the developer would have to pick up the $60 million tab for cleaning up asbestos and petroleum left by the Americans said Dr. Gibbons.

He said housing could not be put there until pollution had been removed but the clean up could be combined with large scale earth moving necessary when building a golf course.

Environmentalist Stuart Hayward said Government was in a quandary about how to Bermuda uniqueness while at the same time trying to accommodate the growing number of people.

"Morgan's Point as a village has much potential but it perhaps has greater liabilities.

"The biggest problem for people living some distance from Hamilton, the principle work centre for the Island, is transport in and out of the City."

Mr. Hayward said recent events such Hurricane Fabian, Police roadblocks, accidents and industrial activities have demonstrated how marginal Bermuda's road system is.

"The network of roads cannot give any relief to long or short term interruptions of passage. With this in mind, the addition of a new village of residences some distance from Hamilton is highly likely to add major congestion to the traffic flow."

He said the promoters of the town scheme may suggest additional traffic will be minimal because of a heightened ferry service.

"However, we in Bermuda have no experience that ferry use has supplanted use of cars or motorbikes upon which to base such a prediction.

"If we choose not to tackle the growth-for-the-sake-of-growth engine, then the way forward must be to reduce the amount of travel needed between residences and workplaces.

"This would seem to point to either increasing the residential possibilities in and around Hamilton, or decentralising work centres. The Morgan's Point scheme doesn't appear to do either."

BEAM Ltd., led by Alan Burland of BCM McAlpine, had hoped to develop Morgan's Point and was given a 90-day exclusivity agreement, but that ran out in November 1999.

Last night Mr. Burland said the deal could easily be resurrected if Government showed any interest.

He said: "This might be an appropriate time to consider an Island-wide development plan."