The company building the planned Southlands hotel has been in extensive talks with financing institutions in Bermuda and abroad over its proposed five-star hotel, co-owner Craig Christensen revealed yesterday.

Delivering a talk on the project at Hamilton Rotary Club, Mr. Christensen fielded questions regarding luxury hotel chain Jumeirah?s commitment to the project, which is earmarked for 37 acres of land in Warwick.

He replied that Jumeirah had signed a 20-year agreement to the scheme, but would not be contributing cash towards it.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr. Christensen confirmed Southlands Limited was confident the money would be in place after the granting of a Special Development Order (SDO), which would allow it to short-cut the normal planning process.

?We need to get the SDO in place before we can secure financing, otherwise the scheme is purely an idea,? said Mr. Christensen. ?We have had a lot of meetings with financing institutions both locally and abroad and we are confident that the money will be secured.?

The scheme has attracted more than 100 letters of objection over concerns including the loss of open space and woodland.

Mr. Christensen welcomed the public being given the chance to comment on the plan following the publishing of a draft version of the SDO.

?It?s good for people to stand up and be heard, so that it?s just not a free-for-all,? he said.

On criticism of the loss of open space, he said: ?We are only building on 16.8 percent of the land. The magnificent trees and two large agricultural pieces of land will remain intact.

?The magnificent quarry gardens are being restored on the property.

?When you look at the size of the property you recognise that there is plenty of opportunity for open space.

?I think it represents a tremendous opportunity for Bermuda and Bermudian people ? the opportunity to work there and enjoy the property.

?Hotels used to be a wonderful place to go to for entertainment and enjoyment. That seems to have been lost in the last ten or fifteen years.?

During the meeting, Mr. Christensen showed video images of the plans and described the rooms as having a ?wow? factor.

Mr. Christensen said the hotel would be targeting the highest earners in the US, generally aged between 28 and 50.

He reiterated Southlands Limited?s commitment to employing Bermudians among its 450 staff.

?The first thing Jumeirah want to do is take Bermudians out to Dubai and train them out there,? he told Rotarians.

?We need to make sure we have exposed our Bermudians to their training standards. They will be the first to grab opportunities in a five-star operation. We would like to attract as many Bermudians as we can.

?Realistically, we realise we will have to bring in non-Bermudians as well.?

On foreign workers in the tourism industry, he said: ?We don?t embrace our blue collar workers. I think that?s fundamentally wrong. We need to sit back and think about what we are doing here and remember we have opportunities for Bermudians who work in the hotel.?

People have until 5 p.m. on Friday, March 23, to make a submission to the Ministry of Environment.