Government has reaffirmed its commitment to turning Southlands into a national park.

The 37-acre South Shore estate is still zoned as Tourism and Residential One under the Draft Bermuda Plan 2008, but Junior Minister for Tourism and the Environment, Marc Bean, said it was the "stated intention" of Government to create a park there.

Senator Bean made the pledge in written answers to Parliamentary Questions submitted by Senator Michael Fahy, Opposition spokesman on the Environment in the Senate.

On behalf of the Cabinet Office, Sen. Bean said: "The land swap agreement (to exchange 37 acres at Southlands for 80 acres at Morgan's Point) remains as between Southlands Ltd. and the Government of Bermuda, and is the subject of ongoing discussions between the parties.

"Pursuant to the stated intention of Government, upon completion of the land swap agreement the land known as Southlands will be designated a national park."

Regarding the costs of the environmental clean-up of Morgan's Point, Sen. Bean said: "Whilst this falls under the remit of the Ministry of Works and Engineering, the current estimated cost for environmental remediation at Morgan's Point is being assessed in light of the proposed development of the site and will form the basis of an RFP (Request for Proposal) for the conduct of the work."

Announcing the land swap between Southlands and Morgan's Point in April 2008, Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown said it was "most likely" Southlands would become a national park.

Up until now however, Government has declined to comment further on its plans for the 37-acre estate.

Owners Southlands Ltd. were given 80 acres of brownfield land at Morgan's Point in exchange for the greenfield site, with the former US Naval Air Station to become the new location for the Jumeirah hotel project.

Dr. Brown has said taxpayers will fund the environmental cleanup of the former US base land which is heavily polluted with asbestos, metals, petroleum products and other chemicals.

Any environmental remediation will have to tackle 500,000 gallons of jet fuel lying dormant, while Bassett's Cave has a layer of viscous oil some two feet deep.

Whoever is awarded the work faces significant challenges. Storage tanks used to store petroleum products such as lubricating oils, diesel, kerosene and jet fuel, have cracked and corroded over time, resulting in leaks.

Morgan's Point also has concrete sea plane ramps and reinforced buildings with walls several feet thick — some of which contain asbestos.

Opposition MP Grant Gibbons, who served as Management and Technology Minister in the mid-1990s, has said the costs of cleaning up the 260-acre peninsula could reach $25 million. Former Environment Minister El James disagreed the costs would run that high.

In the 2008 Budget, Government included the cleanup of Morgan's Point in a $125.3 million allocation to capital projects. Work however, has still not started.

Government issued an RFP for 'client representation services' in July 2007 for a tender to manage the process. But no contractor has yet been officially announced.