March, says general manager Mr. George Smith.

Of the four military bases closing in Bermuda, the Royal Navy Base is the only one whose future will be dealt with outside of Government's Base utilisation committee.

"Right now, we're working very hard on the take-back of HMS Malabar ,'' Mr.

Smith told The Royal Gazette . "We've had a lot of different kinds of proposals.'' Mr. Smith would not divulge specifics, and said a first step would be to prepare an inventory of buildings on the Malabar site.

While the West End Development Corporation was "in charge'' of the future of the Royal Navy Base, it was keeping in touch with Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons and the Base utilisation committee, he said.

Dr. Gibbons said the property the Royal Navy has been leasing was vested in Wedco some time ago.

"It's close to them, and they have a pretty clear sense of some of the ideas and what their needs are,'' he said. "I'm quite comfortable with having Wedco work with Malabar in terms of the transfer. There is coordination, and as issues come up and we need to discuss them, we obviously will.'' The US Naval Air Station at St. David's is to close on September 1. The US Naval Annex and the Canadian Forces Station at Daniel's Head have already closed.