People who have taken out timeshares at the St. George's Club will not get to run the club despite hopes that a new era was about to start for timeshare purchasers on the Island.

A close inspection of a new bill designed to smooth out problems that have occurred in the timeshare sector in Bermuda since the 1980s does not appear to be the panacea some were expecting, according to Opposition Senate Leader Kim Swan, who has had a long association with the St. George's Club development where he was once general manager and the resident golf pro.

Sen. Swan left the Senate chamber on Wednesday afternoon unimpressed by what had been revealed after a debate on the new bill ended with a fine toothcomb examination of exactly what has been packaged up in the Government's new Timesharing (Licensing and Control) Amendment Act.

Earlier he had stated that the bill should have made timeshares more attractive to developers and purchasers by extending the occupation period from 25 years to 60 years. Such a move would stretch out the timescale for maintenance costs and other expenses. The amendment makes provision for a new minimum of 40 years.

But once Senators convened a committee to make a close examination of the Timeshare Amendment Act, Sen. Swan realised things were not stacking up the way he had expected, and he believes many timeshare purchasers who have been consulted by the Government are likely to be in for a surprise too.

Speaking to the after the meeting Sen. Swan, whose wife has a co-share in one of the St. George's Club timeshares, said: "It has not turned up what the stakeholders thought they were getting.

"The timeshare holders thought they would be able to administer the club, but the bill just allows them to select someone to represent them at an advisory level."

During the earlier Senate discussion the United Bermuda Party continued its theme, developed when the bill went to the House of Assembly last week, urging the Government ? as landlord ? to take an active role in working out a solution between the developer and the purchasers of the St. George's Club.

Sen. Swan, speaking from outside the Senate room after the debate and committee meeting, was critical of what he perceives as the haste with which the bill has been passed through the House of Assembly and Senate within a ten-day period without time for it to be properly scrutinised.

He said that, despite its well-documented problems, the timeshare development at St. George's, which once fell into receivership, had survived and was an important component of the town's continuing livelihood as a visitor destination, whereas the Club Med Hotel ? and its previous incarnations as a Loews Hotel and a Holiday Inn ? has remained derelict for a number of years.

Sen. Swan said the Government had missed a chance to improve things for the St. George's Club, adding: "The Government had a job to make this clearer to the stakeholders. There is a lot of work still to be done on this."

Earlier, during the Senate debate, Junior Transport Minister Sen. Walter Roban had introduced the bill which has a number of new measures, including increasing the fines handed to developers and agents who fail to comply with the new regulations.

Sen. Walwyn Hughes, who expressed his unhappiness at the clauses in the bill even before it was assessed by the Senate committee, said 120 timeshare units had originally been planned for St. George's Club, but only 68 were built "before the money ran out".

He also took the view the the Government needed to be more connected with decisions and the managing of St. George's Club, noting: "We can't pretend this bill is going to come in and 'hands off ? if it fails, it fails' and hope for the best."

I hope we can work out things so that St. George's Club can continue for another long period of time."

The bill was passed by the Senate.