More details about the St George’s hotel project should be made public in the near future, according to Shawn Crockwell.

In the meantime, the tourism minister said the developer, the Desarrollos Hotelco Group, was working closely with the Bermuda Government and stakeholders.

“They are working with the ministry of environment as well as planning,” he said. “They have been having contemporaneous meetings with planning, so if something is flagged they can address it before presenting a full plan.

“I’m hoping they will be able to present their final plans and designs to the community in St George’s relatively soon, but we have been in dialogue with the stakeholders in St George’s about some of the conceptual plans, and any concerns that they have flagged we can address at a very early stage.

“We know that they are putting up at least 75 per cent of the financial equity. They are still negotiating the debt portion of the development, but I understand that it is going forward. I’m hopeful that we can see something take place on the property this quarter, but I can tell you without doubt that they will be building this year.”

The hotel site, which overlooks Fort St Catherine’s Beach, has remained vacant since the Club Med resort closed in 1988. The former hotel building was demolished in 2008 after luxury hotel operator Bazarian International signed a deal to build a Park Hyatt resort on the site. However the project hit a series of delays and the Government terminated his lease for the property in 2012 citing a breach of contract.

The Government has since signed deals with the Desarrollos Hotelco Group to build a five-star, 122-room hotel, six estate residences and a possible 90 condos on the property. While some have welcomed the project, others have expressed concerns, chiefly about public access to the beach.

Mr Crockwell said the site’s history has led to a “reserved reaction”, but he maintained that the project was a priority.

“For me, it’s about when we put shovels in the ground, and we will continue to work hard to make that happen this year,” he said. “We just approved the leases during the last session, we signed the master development agreement. The Government has done everything it can do to support the development.

“We have always kept aggressive timelines. I like an aggressive timeline. If we miss it, I will take the criticism, but if you keep an aggressive timeline things get done. If you miss it by a quarter, at least you are getting it done.”

Asked if the Government or the developer were seeking a special development order for the site — something the previous developers had not done — Mr Crockwell said that all the necessary permissions were included in the St George’s Resort Act 2015, which has been approved by the House of Assembly.

Mr Crockwell said he understood that the Morgan’s Point hotel project was also making good progress and that construction was expected begin on that site this year, too.

“The economic development committee has worked very closely with the developers there to support them,” he said. “We have provided guarantees and everything else. The Government has done everything it can to put them in a position to be able to start development.

“I have been told that they should be making important announcements soon as it relates to the procurement of financing and the rest of that.

“If you go through the Throne Speech, you will see that all of the projects that we listed we fundamentally believe will happen this year. Morgan’s Point, St George’s, Ariel Sands: all of these projects will start in earnest in 2016.”

Mr Crockwell added that work on the Pink Beach redevelopment project was progressing according to schedule, and that the Bermudiana Beach Project at the former Grand Atlantic site was still moving forward.

“We still hear good news here and there,” he said. “I can’t say if something is going to happen this year with Grand Atlantic, but there still seems to be progress. There’s a great deal of potential to do something interesting.”