The owners of the Fairmont Southampton will not have the redevelopment of the resort underwritten by the Government, the finance minister has said.

Curtis Dickinson emphasised that no government could be expected to take on the risks of private developers.

He added that Gencom, which bought the Fairmont Southampton in 2019, had asked for “generous” treatment and that the Government’s responses had been “appropriate”.

Mr Dickinson, speaking during the Throne Speech debate last Friday, emphasised that the Morgan’s Point scheme, which received a guarantee under the former One Bermuda Alliance government, had been “ambitious” but it later became apparent safeguards were not in place.

Work on the Sandys site, the former US Naval Annex, ground to a halt in 2018 after the original developers ran out of financing for the project.

The Government was left with a $165 million guarantee.

Mr Dickinson said he was determined that the same mistakes would not be repeated with the Fairmont Southampton redevelopment.

He was speaking after David Burt, the Premier, said last week that Government engagement with plans for a redevelopment of the Fairmont Southampton, the island’s biggest hotel, would only go ahead if it ensured value for money for taxpayers.

Mr Burt was speaking after Gencom met Government representatives last month with a group of investors and a draft business plan.

Mr Dickinson earlier revealed the Government was looking at re-engaging with Gencom and its partners and had examined term sheets related to the proposal.

Mr Burt said no special requests for planning permissions were involved in the contacts.

The Premier said: “I have no knowledge of any requests for any special permission.”

The meeting came a year after the hotel closed, putting about 750 people out of work.

The pandemic also put the brakes on an ambitious $180 million refurbishment of the South Shore resort by Westend Properties, a Gencom subsidiary and owner of the site.

Gencom bought the hotel in 2019, but securing cash for the redevelopment in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic proved a problem.

The meetings last month were the first news on the resort since Mr Burt said in July that Gencom was still unable to raise the required capital.

But he added that the owners were hopeful construction would start before the end of the year.

Mr Burt said: “They brought in lenders. They have put together a project and the Ministry of Finance is going to review these items because what this Government is going to do is going to make sure that the taxpayers of this country are protected.”

He added that the Government did not want a repeat of the Morgan’s Point problems.

Mr Burt said: “If the same due diligence was done by the former government, we would not be discussing the … guarantee for Morgan’s Point that the taxpayers of this country had to pay for.

“Our Minister of Finance does things by examining things and making sure that the taxpayers of this country are protected.”