promise,'' Works and Engineering Minister the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto said yesterday.

The Minister was reacting to comments made on Friday by Opposition Leader Mr.

Frederick Wade.

Mr. Wade attacked United Bermuda Party promises to replace the smelly dump with a park, saying the project was given "very low priority'' in Government's latest budget.

"There was no sign of the massive funding called for to produce the facility that the UBP now promises,'' Mr. Wade said at a news conference.

But Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto said Mr. Wade did not appear to understand the dump issue.

"That dump is slated to close down as soon as the Tynes Bay incinerator comes onstream,'' she said. "To suggest, as Mr. Wade has, that massive amounts of money should be in this year's budget for this project displays his total lack of understanding of how large-scale projects are managed and budgeted for.

"With the opening of the Tynes Bay plant, the Pembroke Dump will be closed next year,'' she said. "Money will be made available to begin the restructuring of the local environment.

"I say this not because there is an election, but because it is the truth, and it is the fulfilment of a commitment made by the United Bermuda Party to the people of this country.'' Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan has sent a second letter to Island voters.

In it, Sir John said the October 5 election was "a referendum about Bermuda's future and who can best manage it.'' The UBP's "Blueprint for the future'' was designed to "bring us safely through dynamic change,'' he said.

Changes would include how opportunity was guaranteed, how good jobs were created, how youths were taught, and "how we confront and conquer problems such as drugs and the threats to Bermuda's cherished culture and the values of our family way of life.'' Mr. Wade's claim that the Island was bankrupt was "an insult,'' Sir John said. "We must now ensure that we do not exchange our success and our achievements for such an insult.''