could take up to a decade to create a park at Pembroke Dump.

And he claimed Government had gone "aloof'' of the 1987 Harvard Pembroke Marsh Plan, the blueprint for Bermuda's "central park''.

Mr. Bascome said the estimate by Works Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons and Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons that it could take eight to ten-years to create the park seemed "way off base''.

"It's definitely too long and beyond the time-span of the five-year phasing programme the Harvard group recommended,'' he said.

"I expected at the maximum three to four years.'' He added: "Now, if they used the money (for the park) to go towards the incinerator and not developing the park there may be some mismanagement.'' His Pembroke East constituents had lived too long with the smell and dust produced by the dump.

Sen. Simons flatly denied any of the money set aside for the dump closure had been diverted to the $70 million incinerator.

He pointed out there was a possibility small roadside sections of the dump could be opened as playgrounds while the rest of the park was being created.

Mr. Bascome said he found "strange'' the announcement this week by the Ministers that 1,140 trees would be planted on the dump in the coming weeks.

There were at least two critical measures recommended in the Harvard study that had not been carried out first, he said.

One of them was releasing gases trapped in pockets between layers of decaying refuse, he said.

He said that according to the study the methane gases would harm the roots of plants and trees if they were not released.

But Sen. Simons pointed out the 1,140 trees were being planted on the dump's southern slope -- where there were not significant amounts of trapped methane.

The central part of the dump -- "a mountain of garbage'' -- was where the methane gases were, he said.

Methane posed fire and health hazards, he added. And the plan was to "naturally vent'' them.

The process was a lengthy one, which was one of the reasons that creating the park could take as long as eight to ten years, he said.

He added: "The creation of a park at the dump is being overseen by a technical committee of people from the Departments of Planning, Parks and Works.

"They are looking at the original (Harvard study) plans and working out ways of starting the process and making changes in light of the current level of the dump.'' Mr. Bascome noted the study had also recommended that the levels of Glebe Road field and Bernard Park softball diamond be raised to avoid flooding in the area, and a new canal be cut.

When the dump would be ready for use as a park was "yet to be defined'', Mr.

Gibbons had conceded at the tree planting on Tuesday.

"It's an eight to ten-year development project. There's a lot of work to be done,'' he said.

The Government-commissioned Harvard study would be used as a basic blueprint for the park.

But there was still much research and design work to be done, he said.

"The plan has also not been costed out yet,'' he said.

"To close the dump is not just a matter of stopping trucks from dumping,'' Mr. Gibbons had said.

He added a three-year delay in the construction start-up of the controversial Tynes Bay incinerator had slowed down plans for the park.

Mr. Gibbons said the dump was gradually being closed with total shut-down expected by the end of the year.

Sen. Simons had noted the fact some 30,000 cubic yards of soil and rock needed to cover the dump was "one of the constraining factors'' park planners were facing.

"There is no definite time frame for the completion of the park,'' he said.