Government hit back yesterday over claims it offered the Bermuda Cement Company a figure below the asking price in order to temporarily nationalise the bulk supply operation and prevent a construction industry crisis.

According to West End Development Corporation lawyer Wendell Hollis, a $250,000 offer made to the company on Tuesday was based on a proposal originally put forward by the BCC for the plant and equipment.

In addition, said Mr. Hollis, Government would also purchase the cement left in the silos upon the expiration of the BCC's lease. However, he claimed the BCC rejected the offer on Wednesday afternoon.

The BCC yesterday refuted this allegation. Its lawyer Alan Dunch said the offer is still being considered, but the company wishes to find a buyer either for the whole enterprise as a going concern — its shares, tangible assets, equipment and supplies — or to see what price it can get for the equipment.

"The board has determined that its primary obligation is to maximise value for its shareholders and therefore that it is not in a position to fully consider and make a decision upon either the Government's or any other offer for either its assets or for the shares of BCC which might be received in response to the advertisements in question," he said.

This newspaper reported comments on Thursday from company boss Jim Butterfield that a realistic asking price for the company is around $1 million, depending on whether a new buyer can secure an extended lease for the current site.

He said he had been approached by four other parties who asked about buying its shares and "seeing if they can get some relief on the lease". Meanwhile advertisements for further interested parties have run in the press.

Mr. Butterfield said he views a Government sale unfavourably and warned there will be no cooperation if a hostile takeover is attempted.

Wrangling between the company and Wedco has left the Island on the brink of a cement supply crisis, prompting the intervention of Government.

Minister of Works and Engineering Dennis Lister held a joint media conference with Wedco representatives yesterday to defend their handling of the issue, pointing the finger at the BCC for reneging on previous agreements.

The parties issued a chronology that Mr. Hollis described as the "clear unadulterated facts on what's happened — no spin."

The document, which includes the disputed claim that the BCC rejected Government's offer, is available in full on the website www.theroyalgazette.com, as is a statement from the Bermuda Cement Company.

Mr. Lister said: "We still stand on behalf of Government and Wedco still as honest brokers in this situation. We are still looking to bring a positive resolution in regard to continuing cement at that site.

"The BCC is no longer interested in a lease at that site so Government has stepped forward to continue to ensure that cement is available and that's the offer that we stand by and we're prepared to continue that."

The BCC and Wedco have blamed each other for the circumstances leading to the fact that after 43 years at its Dockyard location, Wedco will no longer have a lease to operate there as of December 31.

At the press conference yesterday, Mr. Hollis said it was not the case that Wedco terminated BCC's lease, claiming the quango has acted in good faith during protracted negotiations.

Hitting back later, Bermuda company directors Mr. Butterfield, Stella Winstanley and John White said they feel that for the last six years they have "tried everything" to reach an agreement.

They refuted the claim that the company is no longer interested in a lease at the site.

However, they said, they do not believe that Wedco's desire to have a new facility built nearby — which they estimate could cost $12-15 million and was part of the terms of the lease negotiations — is in the best interests of Bermuda. In a statement last night, the BCC claimed Wedco had offered it a 21-year lease for a new cement plant 300 yards south of the existing site — which was earmarked for residential development.

However, the plant would cost up to $15 million. With net profit averaging $972,905 per year, BCC concluded "it would be imprudent to expect this level to continue for the next 21 years", particularly as Government had also announced plans to construct another cement distribution plant at Southside. The company said the 21-year limit also made the costs and repayment "impractical".

In a statement last night it said: "BCC has consistently expressed to Wedco its view that the most reasonable way forward is for the existing plant to be refurbished and to continue in use."

It added it has spent $0.5 million on exploratory investigations, architectural services, engineering drawings and legal fees but has "failed to come up with a cost-effective way of constructing a new plant".

Executives from Cemex, which owns 38.63 percent of the company, have also said BCC is "fortunate to have the facility which we do have, and that constructing a new plant for the small quantities of cement which we use would not be a practical proposition."

BCC points out that its cement is at least 40 percent lower in price than most Caribbean islands, in part due to an underground pipeline from ship to silo.

It said it has "approached Wedco to ask for an extension of time whilst such an approach was undertaken, but its proposal was rejected".