Government is still locked in negotiations over the Morgan's Point/Southlands land swap but is edging closer towards a deal being struck, Premier Ewart Brown said last night.

He told members of the public in Southampton that a meeting was planned today with the Southlands Group to discuss the issue.

"With every meeting, hopefully it gets a little closer," he said. "I think the Government wants a hotel there (on Morgan's Point) as badly as anybody. We are not holding anything up just for the sake of it."

The Premier explained that Government planned to hand over 80 acres of the publicly-owned 260-acre deserted Morgan's Point peninsula to the Southlands Group in exchange for the 37-acre Southlands site. A golf course will take up another 130-acres at Morgan's Point.

What is still being negotiated, said Dr. Brown at the PLP meeting for constituencies 32 and 33, is how the rest of the Morgan's Point site in Southampton will be developed.

"There are 40 acres essentially left, maybe less, for whatever else the Government would like to do on that property," he said. "Before we can consummate the deal on the 80 acres we have to be satisfied and agreed on what's going to happen to the rest.

"We felt that the prudent thing to do was to work through the development ideas outside of the swap first and that's where we are to this day."

The land swap idea came about after a public outcry over the Jumeirah Hotel Group's plans to build a five-star hotel on Southlands in Warwick.

The owners of Southlands, the Southlands Group, proposed a deal whereby the resort would be built instead on Morgan's Point, a contaminated former US Naval Base, and Southlands would pass into public ownership.

Dr. Brown was asked last night whether Jumeirah was likely to keep waiting for a deal to be agreed. "They have been very patient all along, by the way," he replied. "I don't think that it's going to take much longer.

"I think that the real challenge today, not just for that developer but for most developers in hospitality, is finding the money. That's their business, not mine. We are trying to get it done and keep Jumeirah in the mix. I'd hate to see them leave."

A woman in the audience said she understood that Jumeirah was finding it tough to secure funding without a deal in place.

"That, I suppose, has some weight," said Dr. Brown, adding: "Morgan's Point is the last piece of property in Bermuda that's owned by the Government or anyone else on which you could place a five-star resort, other than what's already spoken for.

"We have to be extremely careful. That's the people's land. We really have to agree on how that land is going to be used. I think we can get there."

Dr. Brown said much of the contaminated land at Morgan's Point would be used for the golf course. "The plan is to have a trophy golf course that would work in conjunction with Port Royal," he said.