Government has identified potential private sector partners who will fund the initial building of a replacement for the Causeway, Premier Alex Scott said last night.

Mr. Scott told MPs Government was "already down the road" of doing a feasibility study on the Causeway, which was wrecked during Hurricane Fabian and will need to be replaced in the long-term.

"The burden will not fall totally on the shoulder of the public purse," he said.

"We will probably see those involved in the initial construction of the replacement and the tendering process, and following through, they will assist in releasing funds, and at some point Government will begin to take over responsibility for the capital and interest of that very large project.

"We have a broad brush idea going forward. We have potential partners going forward and financing from potential partners."

Mr. Scott did not spell out the identity of the potential investors or any details of how the project would be funded.

He said the figure of $80 million to $100 million to replace the Causeway and Longbird Bridge mentioned by Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons last night was "not far fetched" and "may be on the money".

While the Causeway could be rehabilitated, Government could "never make it a secure thoroughfare" which would withstand another trauma like a hurricane.

Mr. Scott's revelations came after Government moved legislation to set aside a fund for some of the $11 million which the US - which had responsibility for Longbird Bridge until 2039 until the 1941 Baselands agreement - gave to Bermuda after renouncing the right to re-occupy its military bases.

Government has already set aside $5 million in this Budget for social spending, $3 million has been spent on bridge repairs, and the remaining $3 million will go into a reserve fund.

The Opposition accused Government of squandering money which should have been set aside for a long-term replacement for Longbird Bridge and the Causeway or an environmental clean-up of the pollution left by the US.

But Government countered that the US specified the $11 million could be used for any purpose which Bermuda chose.

Dr. Gibbons said: "The people of St. George's and St. David's will feel somewhat short-changed that this didn't go towards a replacement (of the bridge) or a new Causeway.

"This is a short-sighted move that we continue to express doubts about. This money should have been put into a reserve fund two or three years ago when it came in."

Dr. Gibbons said when Bermuda was negotiating with Washington over the return of the Baselands, the only legal obligation the US had was the maintenance of Longbird Bridge until 2039.

The US would never have specified that the money should have been environmental remediation because that would have been to admit there was a problem and liability, which it had not done with any of its other former bases around the world.

Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Maxwell Burgess said the Progressive Labour Party had not mortgaged Bermuda's future because it had already "sold it out in the negotiations" with the US.

He said the $11 million was "unacceptable" and Government would need to end up over-taxing Bermudians to pay for repairs to the bridge.

The Premier pointed out that when Mr. Burgess was in Government and negotiating with the US "he got nothing. He negotiated rocks".

PLP backbencher Nelson Bascome said the PLP got something from the Americans while other jurisdictions around the world with US bases got nothing.

Finance Minister Paula Cox accused the United Bermuda Party of "concentrating on boulders and balderdash".

The $5 million already allocated will go to: housing the homeless ($1.2 million); pension increases ($2.2 million); National Drug Commission ($300,000); Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation ($1 million); and the National Sports Centre ($500,000).

The vote was tied 14-14 and passed after Speaker Stanley Lowe voted in favour after mistakenly voting originally with the Opposition.