Government won't reveal any details of its planned clean-up of Morgan's Point — or say where the cash will come from if the US refuses fresh requests for it to pay for the costly work.

The majority of the 240-acre former US Naval Annex was handed over to developers Southlands Ltd. on Monday for them to build a $2 billion luxury hotel resort over the next 20 years.

But they will be unable to start work on the first phase of the project — an 80-room boutique hotel on the west of the site — until the mess left behind by the American military in 1995 is removed.

A map obtained by The Royal Gazette and reproduced here reveals the pollution and waste in the area, including jet fuel and heavy oil plumes, landfill and abandoned fuel tanks.

Government has committed to give the developers "clean" land but has yet to explain how it will pay for the $35 million cost of the work.

Works and engineering permanent secretary Robert Horton said in February that cleaning up Morgan's Point, on the border of Southampton and Sandys, had been put on hold "pending Government's pursuit of alternative funding sources".

Premier Ewart Brown lauded the plans for Morgan's Point on Monday, claiming the plush development meant Bermuda was "on its way to positioning itself for significant tourism success".

He said Government was in discussions with the US Government to see if it would assist financially with the multimillion dollar clean-up of the site and that other plans would have to be made if it didn't agree to help.

The US was effectively freed from any obligation to pay for the mess when it gave the Island $11 million to replace Longbird Bridge in 2002, as a full and final settlement.

But the issue came up again on a visit to Washington DC by former Premier Alex Scott in 2006 and has continued to be raised on Capitol Hill every year since by Dr. Brown.

Prior to his visit to the American capital in June this year, the Premier said: "We have now added a visit to the Pentagon to discuss with the US Navy if they have any serious interest in coming back to clean up the base lands. We want an answer yes or no." He did not reveal the outcome of the talks.

Asked yesterday for more information on the ongoing talks, Dr. Brown's spokesman said: "The Premier will not be commenting further on this matter."

US Consul General Grace Shelton did not provide a response by press time.

Mr. Horton has not given answers to the following questions posed by this newspaper:

• What is the latest information on the remediation at Morgan's Point?

• Have any alternative sources of funding for the clean-up been found yet?

• Has a contract been awarded for the remediation works?

• When is work due to begin?

• What's the expected time frame for the remediation and clean-up work and can we have a breakdown of each stage and estimated start and end times?

• Will Southlands Ltd. play a part in the remediation — either doing some of the work or paying for any of it?

• Does Works and Engineering still plan to stop baling and storing excess waste at Morgan's Point in January, as it said in July?

• Are any non-Governmental organisations/companies still using Morgan's Point for any purpose?

A 1997 review of the pollution by environmental consultants JA Jones found about 500,000 gallons of mixed sewage and waste oil in Bassett's Cave, as well as numerous leaking jet fuel tanks.

They found extensive evidence of toxic metals in the caves, as well as waste oil and petroleum.

There were also 134 abandoned fuel tanks, 60 percent of which were found to have leaked significantly into the soil or groundwater.