In what could go down in history as the battle over the waterfront, former Premier Sir John Swan has unveiled an alternative waterfront redevelopment concept — months after City Hall awarded development rights to Allied Development Partners.Sir John presented the concept to Sandys Rotary Club last week, has launched a website (www.hamiltonwaterfront.bm) and has included it in the new telephone directory.His detractors claim that he is attempting to derail current efforts to redevelop the waterfront. But Sir John told The Royal Gazette that his actions were purely to advance the public interest.“This is just an idea that the Bermuda public will look at, that’s all,” Sir John told this newspaper.“It’s not in line for me to develop it. It’s just offering an alternative.”The former Premier has long been a champion of redeveloping the Hamilton waterfront. But he was highly critical of the process by which City Hall selected Allied Development Partners, headed by construction boss Michael MacLean, as lead developer.City Hall bosses made a “major error of judgement” in their handling of the waterfront redevelopment project by not widely consulting the public before issuing a request for proposal, he told The Royal Gazette in April.Now, he’s launched his own consultation process.“My job is to look out for the public interest,” Sir John said last night when asked to explain his actions.Mr MacLean and members of the Hamilton City Council — including Mayor Graeme Outerbridge, his Deputy Donald Smith, Councillors George Scott, Keith Davies and Troy Symonds were among those in attendance at Sir John’s Rotary presentation last week.Like Mr MacLean’s proposal, Sir John’s concept includes a casino and hotel, and relocation of the docks. But reclaiming land from the Harbour will be kept to a minimum, according to the proposal.“This development is not designed to extensively encroach on the harbour, it is designed to keep the unique quality and charm that makes Hamilton Harbour a special place,” the website explains.It continues: “At some time in the future, with the Waterfront development underway, it will make economic sense to relocate the Container Dock. This will make it possible to redevelop this area, and create the opportunity to give the Cabinet Building and the House of Parliament the setting that they deserve. Here, we propose the Parliament Park Amphitheater.”And by minimising land reclamation the scheme will be “considerably less costly and more achievable.“This scheme is also more flexible in that it can be completed in phases. With the initial phase being no more than re-landscaping the existing areas. This will spur further development efforts.“We believe this proposal for the redevelopment of Hamilton’s waterfront will show the world not only that Bermuda means business, but that we care about the quality of life of our citizens and our visitors and that working together we can make Bermuda a better place for all.”Sir John extolled the benefits of his concept yesterday but would not be drawn when asked if he believed he had come up with a better concept than Allied Development Partners.“I’m not saying it’s superior, it’s just an alternative,” he said. “Bermudians are going to have to live with this for generations. When it’s done, it’s done. It's the people’s waterfront.”As for the chosen developers “they themselves might decide that the Bermuda public wants something different from what they are proposing.”Mr MacLean said he did not doubt that the former Premier did not want him to develop the waterfront but he had no concerns about Sir John’s latest move.“Who’s going to finance it?” he asked. “You’ve got green grass and palm trees down there. You’ve got about a $50 to $100 million expenditure with no form of revenue” except the casino.Meanwhile, Mr MacLean’s project is on hold as Government completes its due diligence. But Mr MacLean’s Allied Development Partners has already secured a lease of waterfront property.Government is also planning to overhaul the Municipalities Act primarily because of concerns about governance issues, and is seeking more control over the municipalities’ financial transactions.