Word that Government is considering setting up a drug recovery centre near the entrance of Dockyard is raising eyebrows and concerns among potential investors in the West End.

The Royal Gazette has learned that the former residence of the Royal Naval Commander's executive officer is being eyed as the site where the National Drug Commission will set up its "after care'' facility for recovering drug addicts by the end of the year.

But members of a committee formed to revive and further develop the Dockyard area have expressed misgivings about the facility's location.

Among them is Independent Sen. Alf Oughton who yesterday told The Royal Gazette he hoped that Government will steer clear of the Dockyard area.

Sen. Oughton said while he did not believe a decision on the location of the drug recovery facility had been approved by Cabinet, there was a "strong hint'' that Government had targeted the building between the former Royal Naval Dockyard Commander's home and the Cockburn's Cut Bridge, known as The Bungalow.

He said the Friends of Dockyard committee was also opposed to Government's plans to turn Clarence Terrace, near Westgate Correctional Facility, into a halfway house for prisoners.

"I recognise the need for both of these establishments,'' Sen. Oughton said.

"But I would like to think that if you're trying to rehabilitate someone, you would not want them to look out the door and see the prison.'' Friends of Dockyard is a steering group formed out of two public brainstorming sessions held earlier this year to come up with ideas for developing the West End.

It has launched a campaign called "Dockyard into the next millennium''.

Among the suggestions which came out of the sessions were improving the ferry service between Dockyard and other ports around the Island, including Morgan's Point; creating a free "heritage'' bus ride between Dockyard and Somerset Village for visitors so that they can learn about historic sites in the area; setting up an amphitheatre in Dockyard; and opening the area to marine research.

"There are some very exciting things there that won't cost a lot of money to set up,'' he said.

"The main thing is how we can better develop Dockyard, not only from tourists' point of view, but for the Island as a whole.'' But while expansion plans for Dockyard were still at the infancy stage, Sen.

Oughton said potential investors were already voicing concerns about Government's plans.

"One of the concerns is that already there are a couple of large outside investors who have come up with ideas of what they would like to do,'' he said. "But already they are saying `what is this we hear about a rehabilitation centre?'''.

"I understand where Government is coming from. They need to find a centre.

They're caught between a rock and a hard place.

"But I'm hoping that they will change their minds (about the Dockyard site).

"To me a halfway house is half way between where you've been and where you're going, not over the wall (from the prison).'' Sen. Oughton's sentiments about the halfway house were voiced earlier this year by the co-director of an American consultancy firm brought in by the West End Development Corporation to prepare a report on Dockyard's expansion.

Dick Rigby told The Royal Gazette that placing a halfway house in the area would hurt the increasingly-popular visitor attraction.

But yesterday Social Services Minister Harry Soares said while he could not comment on the drug rehabilitation centre -- which comes under the Human Affairs Ministry -- the public, inmates and their families, and professionals, including criminologists and psychiatrists, had been calling for a half-way house for prisoners for "many, many years''.

"(Former Social Services Minister) the Hon. Quinton Edness worked himself hard trying to find a place,'' Mr. Soares said. "Everytime he found a place, it was `not in my backyard'. Everytime he found a place local issues became far more important than national issues.'' Therefore, Mr. Soares said, when he took over the Ministry last September he was determined to make the halfway house one of his top priorities.

After looking at a number of places around the Island, including the controversial site of Tudor Farm in Southampton, Mr. Soares announced in December that the halfway house will be opened at Clarence Terrace, next to Westgate.

"We had public support about this,'' he added. "The public did not come out and voice its concern about it.'' Mr. Soares said the Dockyard site was chosen because it was on prison property, near the prison, and not in a highly-populated area.

"Having a halfway house near the prison has some real benefits,'' he pointed out. "There are facilities there which can be shared for perhaps things like laundry, meals, and staff. Proximity can lead to efficiency.'' Mr. Soares said the dilapidated Clarence Terrace buildings will also be renovated to improve the gateway to Dockyard.

He also noted that the halfway house will not accommodate hard-core criminals.

In addition to taking in rehabilitated prisoners with jobs, Mr. Soares said he is considering housing minor offenders such as "habitual speeders'' at the half-way facility.

"This way they can continue to work and support their families, but we can lock them up at Westgate at nights and weekends.'' Mr. Soares also pointed out that Dockyard owed its existence to prisoners.

"It was built by prisoners,'' he said. "And Wedco for years have been using inmates to do work around the area. There is a long tradition of inmates working in and living in that area.'' Mr. Soares added that he liked to think of the halfway house as a place where an inmate can "stand there, look over his shoulders and see Westgate and say `that's what I'm going to leave behind me' and look across the water and say `that's where I'm going to go'.

"Every month or year we delay this,'' he continued, "the more people we're not helping. We've go to get this thing done by next year.'' Human Affairs Minister Jerome Dill said he also hoped that the NDC's drug recovery facility would open this year.

He confirmed that Government was looking at a site near the Royal Naval Commander's residence.

"We have a number of options and that's one of them,'' he said.

But while admitting that he understood concern about the drug facility, he noted that "the Bermudian people have been crying out for some form of residential facility'' for drug users.

"We are looking at a drug recovery facility primarily for people who have had care.'' He also pointed out that there were several institutions on the Island where drug users could receive primary care before entering the recovery centre -- including at Salvation Army, His House for recovering addicts, Fair Havens Christian Care for drug-addicted women, and out-patient treatment at Addiction Services, Montrose Substance Abuse Centre, and the Employee Assistance Programme.

"Once they've had primary care than they will go to the centre,'' Mr. Dill stressed.

At the recovery facility, drug addicts will be able to develop vocational skills to prepare them for the mainstream.

"I've visited some of these facilities overseas,'' he said. "These facilities are strictly run because the purpose of them is to help integrate people back into society.''