Bermuda's smallest political party has called for a special task force to replace the Bermuda Land Development Company on the Morgan's Point tourist development.

And National Liberal Party spokesman Graeme Outerbridge said the overseas firm Renaissance chosen to develop the old US Naval Annex should be booted off the project.

But the BLDC hit back at the claims and has arranged a meeting with NLP leaders to set the record straight.

Mr. Outerbridge said: "It's very clear that the BLDC has selected the wrong group to develop Morgan's Point.'' And he questioned why three years had gone by since Renaissance was selected and work had still not started on the site.

Mr. Outerbridge said: "When plans were reviewed some two-and-a-half years ago there were other concepts put forward which were ignored which had the financing in place. The project could have been into construction, but instead there is nothing.

"Concepts with financing should be reviewed, a new developer selected and the project started as soon as possible.

"The recent history of Morgan's Point is a shambles of missed chances and changing rules underwritten by failure.'' But the BLDC said Mr. Outerbridge was misinformed and they have now arranged to meet with NLP chairman Charles Jeffers for a briefing on the subject.

"For the record, the BLDC categorically rejects the assertion that the original selection of a developer for Morgan's Point was unfair,'' a BLDC spokesman said.

"The selection process was thorough, consistent and extremely fair. All aspects of all proposals submitted were analysed and considered. Dozens of people, including top experts in finance, golf course design, environmental science and engineering were used to assist the BLDC's 14 member board of directors with the selection of a development scheme for the 250 acre site.

"The BLDC also rejects the NLP statement that fully financed concepts were put before the company. Investor interest alone does not mean a project proposal has financing in place.

"At the time of selection, none of the competing teams had secure financing commitments. All financial arrangements were subject to complete due diligence investigations by proposed financial backers.

"Resort development is a challenging business. This is particularly so for a project the scale and complexity of Morgan's Point and against the backdrop of a troubled tourism environment that has slowed the realisation of so many other development plans in Bermuda.

"The BLDC is a very determined company. It will succeed at Morgan's Point much as it has done at Daniel's Head where agreements have been put in place to build Bermuda's first new tourism resort in more than 26 years.'' POLITICS PTL