Opposition and Independent Senators this week.

Sen. Grant Gibbons (UBP), Government spokesman for Works and Engineering, said said the Ministry's most immediate challenge was the completion of the Tynes Bay incinerator by this spring.

He said the Ministry had integrated new technologies and quality management which would improve efficiency and provide value for money to the people of Bermuda.

He said Bermuda will soon be without a landfill as the incinerator nears completion.

"While the main purpose of the incinerator is to handle waste, there will also be the side benefit that it will generate electricity,'' he said.

Sen. Gibbons said hazardous wastes like PVC pipe, lead batteries and fluorescent light bulbs would be collected and shipped overseas and that a horticultural waste compost would be initiated to eventually turn Pembroke Dump into a park.

Budget constraints last year had held up plans to resurface many of the roads, but attempts were made to resurface those roads that were most used by locals and tourists.

"The Ministry has budgeted more money -- $1.75 million -- for the highways,'' he said,"with the goal of resurfacing 10 miles of road a year.

With 140 miles of road in Bermuda, it was important to keep this up.'' Sen. Norma Astwood (Ind) pointed out that though much attention had been paid to getting rid of potholes in the roads, little attention was paid to the flouresent centre line which was always a little higher than the rest of the road and caused motorcycles to skid.

Sen. Gibbons said it was difficult to get a happy medium.

He praised Belco, Telco and Bermuda Cablevision for coordinating their trenching activities and said that once the road was resurfaced it could not be touched for two years unless there was an emergency.

Sen. Milton Scott (PLP) said Government should force the utilities to get together and that the period that the road could not be touched after it was trenched should be increased to more than two years.

Sen. Terry Lister (PLP) questioned why Government had not begun the repaving scheme during the recession, which would have kept people working while at the same time adding to the beauty of the Island.

Sen. Lister questioned Government's allocation of $100,000 to provide lighting of private roads when it was unclear how serious the backlog was.

He also pointed out that street lighting was an important issue with the increase in crime on the Island.

Sen. Alf Oughton (Ind) asked whether Government had succeeded in cutting costs when it reduced garbage collection to once a week, and whether the new incinerator would meet all the guidelines set out in the clean air act.

Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons (UBP) said that there was no difficulty with the incinerator meeting the standards since it was built with these standards clearly in view.

Sen. Yvette Swan (UBP) said she was encouraged by they way Bermudians worked with expatriate workers on the incinerator site and she was impressed by the design of the facility which paid attention to the small details.

Sen. Milton Scott (PLP) said that the new incinerator was an engineering feat and that he was impressed by the Bermudian engineer who took them on a tour.