National Stadium, says the chairman of its board of trustees.

A concept plan for the stadium has been approved in principle by both Cabinet and the Planning Department, Mr. Donald Lines told The Royal Gazette .

But legislation that will turn the land over to the trustees must still pass Parliament, Mr. Lines said. Once the land is conveyed to the trustees, it can be used to raise capital for the stadium's development.

"The next step will be development of the field to the north,'' he said.

"We're very hopeful we'll get on with it later this fall.'' A hill between the two fields will be levelled and the fill will be used to raise the level of the north end so that two more soccer fields can be developed, Mr. Lines said.

Last year, temporary mobile change rooms were put in. Until then, "it was an embarrassment, with nowhere to change,'' he said.

Once the field to the north is developed, the third stage would involve construction of a building between the two sets of fields. It would include a gymnasium and a theatre, among other facilities, Mr. Lines said. Like the rest of the stadium plans, that would be subject to Planning approval.

On September 20, the Development Applications Board deferred approval of the trustees' plans to excavate the hill, pending further information.

Mr. Lines said another field was "desperately'' needed. "You really can't put on a major variety of events unless you have more than one field,'' he said.

Problems were compounded last year because the company that laid the track went bankrupt, and some parts of it were not laid properly, he said.

Mr. Lines, who last year retired as president and chief executive officer of the Bank of Bermuda and now runs Millpoint Ltd., said he did not have a cost estimate for the next phase of the stadium project.

"The wheels turn a lot slower in the political arena than in the business arena,'' Mr. Lines said. "They also have an acute awareness of their accountability to the public.'' As well as the existing National Stadium, the expanded complex is to take in the field used by Devonshire Colts and lands in between. The old Bermuda Technical Institute has also been promised to the Ministry of Youth and Sport.

Tracks for joggers, roller bladers, and cyclists were part of the plans last year. The central facility with the gymnasium is to be built between the old Bermuda Technical Institute and Frog Lane.

"What we have in mind is something much more than an elite athlete facility -- it's a community facility,'' Mr. Lines said.