Comments from the Premier blaming the Planning Department for cost overruns on a Ministry of Tourism project were yesterday called 'outrageous.'

Bermuda Environmental and Sustainablity (BEST) chairman Stuart Hayward said Premier Ewart Brown became responsible for the cost overruns when he took over leadership on the project from Works and Engineering. "It's outrageous that the Premier would attempt to pass the blame onto the Department of planning," Mr. Hayward said. "Hypocritical and outrageous. Totally out of order."

The Heritage Wharf project was originally expected to cost $35 million, but the final bill to the public purse was $60 million, with $3.7 million being spent to protect pregnant dolphins from harm.

The Cruise Ship wharf was tendered to Correia Construction. Engineers Entech Ltd. were appointed project managers and the Ministry of Tourism and Transport was responsible for monitoring costs and payments.

Speaking about the overruns last year, the Premier said: "A slew of contract variations caused the project to escalate.

"These variations included dolphin mitigation, shipwreck assessment, additional elements to complete the fast ferry dock, pre-cast inspections and redesign among other things."

However on Monday night at the Berkeley Cafeterium, Dr. Brown attributed the overruns to the Planning Department.

The Premier said: "The Planning Department, I hate to say, was the cause of much of the overrun expenditure at Dockyard. There's no question we stand in our own way and we stumble over ourselves when we do projects.

"I don't have to tell Bermudians, they know, they try to build a one room addition to their house and the amount of grief you get. It's like the TCD used to be."

Responding to the Premier's statement, Mr. Hayward said: "If you do planning, it takes time, but it seems that they were in a rush to finish the project on time.

"The real problem started when the Government botched the job of doing an environmental impact study. That's the reason they had to have all of the design changes."

He also pointed out several overruns that had nothing to do with Planning, including the rental cost of a crane which rose from an initial quote of $8,000 a month to $10,000 a week.

"The Ministry of Tourism was responsible for monitoring costs, but they are not used to projects of this scale.

"All of it falls to the Premier's feet, and he's trying to pass it off."