Concern is growing that Bermuda faces another lengthy spell of inaction at the former Club Med resort because of a "back to the drawing board" scenario following a switch of developers.

And Government is being urged to come forward with some explanation as to why a previously favoured developer was dropped suddenly after spending more than two years and reportedly $2 million planning a scheme that would have brought a Four Seasons Hotel to the East End.

Opposition Senator Kim Swan is calling for clarity over the latest turn of events that resulted in Deputy Premier Dr. Ewart Brown last Thursday holding a Press conference in front of the former hotel without the new developer being present.

However, preliminary plans for the new project could be made public within weeks according to former Mayor E. Michael Jones who has been appointed as the on-Island representative for KJA Development Inc.

Sen. Swan, who is acting Shadow Minister of Tourism while David Dodwell is off Island, said: "We note that whilst the Minister stood with the immediate past mayor, the developer was not on hand to shed any further light on the project. It is extremely worrying to consider that the development is devoid of any concrete plans to date."

Referring to the advance state of preparation work of the Quorum-led St. George's Renaissance Consortium before it was replaced by KJA as developer in January, he said: "Without any real explanations, Quorum's extensive work is now cast aside and the new group must now start from 'square one' and conduct planning and design work of their own.

"You would have thought there would be conceptional presentations and alike and that the developer would have been present."

Responding Mr. Jones said: "We are devising new plans and a new vision. We are excited about the project and we are very pleased to have been given the opportunity and we look forward to ? in the next few weeks ? unveiling the plans that we have and how we would like to go forth with them.

"In the next few weeks we anticipate completing additional discussions with the Government and we will share the information with the public as the time is right to do so.

"We look forward as quickly as possible bringing to the public the new plans that we have."

And in answer to the question of why no-one from KJA attended the press conference, he added: "The developers prefer to have someone who speaks with the public and they get on with the business of doing the work. They don't want to become burdened down with press conferences and those kind of things."

Sen. Swan is also concerned about Tourism Minister Dr. Brown's statement that he would not discuss the past negotiations with the Quorum group or why they were terminated.

"The Minister saying he has nothing further to say on that subject, I certainly don't think that is good enough. Some disclosure on this situation is necessary and we should receive some further information from him. He just said he was looking ahead. We have an international reputation that we have to uphold, and potential developers of all type are looking at Bermuda and they read the business columns and the newspapers and they see these things go on and it is incumbent on us to act accordingly as properly as possible."

He added: "The Minister owes a public statement on the decision between one developer and the other in this case, particularly after so much work has gone in by the previous people looking at the site."

Dr. Brown last night responded: "What will affect our international reputation is our petty bickering. There's a high level of interest in Bermuda at the moment, higher than it has been in the past 20 years or so."