ways to tone them down in case they are not approved, hotelier Mr. John Jefferis revealed yesterday.

Upset that the plans have not been given the green light yet, he lashed out at the National Trust for their objections and The Royal Gazette for attacking the plans in recent editorials.

Mr. Jefferis blamed the "powerful'' newspaper and Trust for the hotel's chances of getting approval "looking decidedly bleak''.

And he questioned the Trust's sincerity in objecting to the multi-million dollar plans.

"We believe very strongly in the democratic process and if there is strong opinion from people or groups against the plans -- other than from those with a vested interest -- then we will certainly look at allaying their fears,'' he said.

Those with a vested interest, he claimed, include the two neighbouring hotel properties which filed objections -- Horizons and the Coral Beach Club.

Added Mr. Jefferis: "People in the hierarchy of the National Trust may well have a conflict of interest as well.'' Mr. Jefferis, managing director of the Elbow Beach Hotel Development Company, said architects from Cooper and Gardner spent the entire weekend "working on ways to appease objectors''. However, he would not disclose the options that were looked at.

Last month Mr. Jefferis said the hotel needed and was counting on getting DAB approval by last Monday.

But he said yesterday the hotel's owners were still keen to invest in the property because of the political stability, cleanliness and safety here, and the fact that Bermuda is considered an up market resort.

However, he said they were not prepared, considering the economic climate, to "just throw money into the Island without a fair chance of the project being financially viable''.

In order for the project to be viable, he said the hotel's new Saudi Arabian and American owners needed permission to build 39 luxury condominiums, 11 beach front "palace suites'', a conference centre and a six-storey, 120-room extension to boost its total room number to 420.

He said the six-storey extension was the most difficult to alter as it could not be widened because of the road. He added the hotel needed all 120 rooms to make the conference centre viable.

Defending the proposed million-dollar condos, he said they would offer Bermudians employment in building them, caring for them, and working for the owners.

Government has already given the hotel permission to sell the units to non-Bermudians.

In further defence of the project, Mr. Jefferis claimed the sand dunes, on which the hotel was seeking to build the controversial "palace suites'', were not natural.

He said they are created when Elbow Beach sand blows onto the hotel's tennis court parking lot and has to be collected and dumped back on the beach every winter.

"The dunes the Trust are so concerned about are in fact man-made,'' he said.

"They are constructed every year by way of bulldozers and pay loaders dumping beach sand which has blown onto our property, back onto the beach. The National Trust has not taken the trouble to check their facts.'' Questioning the Trust's sincerity in objecting to the plans, he charged the group was "trying to make up for not opposing the Ritz-Carlton plans'', which called for a hotel several stories higher than the Elbow Beach Hotel.

Shadow Tourism Minister Mr. David Allen has also attacked the Trust for not opposing the Ritz-Carlton plans but objecting to the Elbow Beach plans, which he said his party supports.

But Trust president Mrs. Patsy Phillips has said the two sets of plans are "totally different''.

One difference, she pointed out, is that the Ritz-Carlton was to be built on land already developed, but the owners of the Elbow Beach Hotel are attempting to build on unspoiled sand dunes on the beach as well as other "virgin land''.

Government has also said it wholeheartedly approves of the plans. However, it attached conditions to that approval, including moving the proposed "palace suites'' off the sand dunes.