The mystery benefactor that has paid for the $200,000 emergency repairs to the St. George's's sewage system was yesterday revealed as the Ministry of Transport.

Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said his department came to the Old Town's aid after learning that the cruise ships would be unable to make their usual stops there from later this month if the decrepit system was not overhauled.

The Royal Gazette reported last week how 11th hour repairs were being made to the sewage system in St. George's's and would be completed just in time for the holiday season.

Town Mayor Henry Hayward said the corporation had been unable to foot the bill for the work, and had been in discussion with the Government for some time over the issue until the matter was finally resolved last week, dangerously close to the arrival of the first cruise ship.

Yesterday, Dr. Brown said his Ministry would pay for the repair work, along with some upgrades to Ordnance Island, out of its budget for port infrastructure.

The Minister said: “In March, it came to Government's attention that the Corporation of St. George's's lacked sufficient resources to ready the sewer system for the start of the cruise ship season.

“After meting with the Health Department, the Ministry of Works and Engineering, the Department of Tourism, the Corporation of St. George's's and our technical staff at the Ministry of Transport, we made the decision to assist the corporation by providing approximately $200,000 to repair the sewer system for this cruise ship season.

“Funding for port infrastructure improvements exists in the Marine and Ports Services budget for such a situation.”

He said improvements will include installation of new pumps, pipes and fitting repairs to the control panel in the pump station.

Although the pumps have a life of about ten years, Dr. Brown said everyone recognised that other major repairs were needed for the long-term, amounting to well over $5 million dollars worth, including a new tank and treatment plant.

He said it was his department's goal to bring the system up to standard for at least this season, and then the long-term problems could be considered after.

He added: “It is like putting a Band Aid on for a year. But this is a good Band Aid to cover us this season.

“We had known about the problems, but we did not know the extent of it until March, or how it would affect the cruise ships.”

Mr. Hayward said the sewage problems in the Old Town had been severe for some time, even leading to women's sanitary products ending up in the harbour, along with raw sewage.

Mr. Hayward said the corporation had been unable to act because it did not have the money.

He added: “We have been discussing it all along, but with the cruise ship season coming up, there had to be something done.

“We would like to thank the Government for moving on this project. It's something not only important for the cruise ships, it's essential for the cruise ships in that if these repairs were not done, they would not have been able to spend more than 24 hours in the port of St. George's.

“This should be completed by within two weeks before the cruise ships arrive.”

Secretary of the Corporation of St. George's's Lance Furbert said it was in working alongside the health department that he and Mr. Hayward became aware of the serious potential problems.

“We became more and more aware of the health issues, having sewage leaking into the harbour or the streets, which was threatening to happen.

“In fact, it was going in the harbour last year. We were conscious of that, but had not thought about the ramifications.”

The Mayor said it was hoped that when a new buyer was found for the old Club Med hotel, the developer would also undertake to install a whole new sewage system for the hotel, town and cruise ships. And he said a number of people had shown interest in the site, although no talks were planned for this week during the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference on the Island.

And the Minister said he did not believe the sewage problem would put developers off investing in the site.

However, Dr. Brown said it was hoped that the cruise ship industry itself would partner with Bermuda in future to provide financial assistance as it contributed greatly to the amount of sewage in the Island's system - which is 60 percent in St. George's's.

Mr. Hayward said he hoped to have further discussions with Government in the near future about the corporation's lack of funding. He said the corporation had been saying for years that its budget was not “realistic” to keep up with the needs of today.

Dr. Brown said there had been no discussions, as yet, about increasing funding for St. George's.