Bermuda Cement Company president Jim Butterfield is resigned to losing the lease on his Dockyard business which has been there 40 years.

The tenancy came under attack from Bermuda Industrial Union boss Derrick Burgess, who said Mr. Butterfield must go and BCC had held the lease for too long during the motion to adjourn in the House of Assembly on Friday night.

Mr. Butterfield said last night: ?I have heard it on pretty good authority that regardless of what our bid is, we are not going to get it.

?Even if it is the best bid, that we have been there 40 years and it?s time for a change.?

The plant was running slow last week, sparking a panic in the industry that supplies would run short. In a good year it imports 40,000 tonnes.

Mr. Butterfield said production was slower because one silo was emptying and cement had to be dug out while the other had suffered a mechanical failure.

Mr. Butterfield has urged critics to form a rival company if they are upset with service after pointing out there is no monopoly restriction.

Asked about competition, he said: ?We would welcome that?.

He pointed out that competition existed in so many sectors.

He said Gorham?s had imported bags of cement during the scare.

But Mr. Butterfield fears his company will lose the lease on the 22,000 square foot property as Government is ignoring his calls.

BCC has held the lease for 40 years from the West End Development Corporation (Wedco) but it expires in 2005.

The company say reinvestment is urgently needed in the plant. He said Premier Alex Scott had shown interest but not followed up while Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent had not returned calls.

Last night Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary Derrick Binns said it was primarily a matter for Wedco who could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Butterfield said Bermuda Cement Company was not the personal fiefdom of his family but was owned by shareholders. The biggest stake was owned by international cement conglomerate CEMEX, said Mr. Butterfield, which owned 35 percent of the company.

He said: ?Derrick Burgess is so wrong. I am a minority shareholder, there?s 12 of us.?

Attacks on the family name saddened Mr. Butterfield who said his father had poured in charity money to the hospital, cathedral, various schools and had even donated a house for the Salvation Army?s Harbour Light programme.

Mr. Burgess told : ?After 40 years it?s time for a change. It?s nothing personal.

?It?s too bad if he takes it personally. He has made a lot of money out of it. I am not knocking that or criticising that.?

Asked about Mr. Butterfield?s statement that others were free to set up rivals, Mr. Burgess said: ?Bermuda is not very big. There are not many places you can put silos.?

Mr. Butterfield said the company was looking for another site.