Government plans for a second cement storage plant on the Island have created ?confusion?, according to the president of Bermuda Cement Company (BCC).

Jim Butterfield told his firm would consider bidding for the new storage, bagging installation and distribution facility at the Commercial Park, Southside, St. David?s, but added: ?It has added some confusion. It?s questionable whether Bermuda could support two cement companies.?

The Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC), a Government quango, is putting the new site out to tender next week and asking for bids by the end of August.

Mr. Butterfield, who has been wrangling with Government over his firm?s facility at Dockyard for the past five years, said it may be that Southside was a better option for a cement terminal than the West End.

But he said he had reservations about whether the site could cope with vessels bringing cement to the Island.

He said the vessels typically had a draught or depth of 20 to 21 feet, which could be easily accommodated at Dockyard, which can take up to 30 feet, but not at Marginal Wharf in the east, which he said was limited to 14 or 15 feet.

BCC has been Bermuda?s only cement firm for 40 years and imports 50,000 tons each year from its Mexican supplier Cemex.

But earlier this year it blamed a cement drought on its inability to plan for the future because the West End Development Corporation (Wedco) would not grant it a long-term lease.

Wedco, also a quango, wanted BCC to move to another plot at Dockyard, which is earmarked for housing, for a ten-year period.

?Maybe it (Southside) is the best place,? said Mr. Butterfield. ?Some of the block manufacturers are down in Wilkinson?s Quarry. There?s some benefits if it could be done.

?Our whole aim in this is how do we provide cement to Bermuda at the best possible price. That?s what our strategy has been.?

He said that if a competitor won the Southside tender the market was unlikely to be big enough for two rival cement terminals.

?The market is very, very small. I?m not sure another world supplier would want to come in. We would have cut the market in half. It?s questionable whether that would be viable.?

Mr. Butterfield said there was no longer a problem with supplies of cement following the March drought.

?Availability is fine,? he said. ?On the world stage, it?s kind of tightening up a bit. ?Unfortunately we are being dragged into it. We have had to increase the price of cement a little bit but there is still plenty of cement.?

Sen. David Burch, the Works and Engineering Minister, told a press conference yesterday he did not think the Southside plan conflicted with the Wedco operation.

He said having a facility at either side of the Island would cut a lot of movement on the roads.

The Minister added that BLDC would not be operating in isolation because the deputy chairman of BLDC was also the chairman of Wedco.

Sen. Burch said Wedco was in negotiations with BCC about the Dockyard supply and was waiting for a response from the company.

Mr. Butterfield said he could not comment on the ongoing Dockyard row but added: ?On the Wedco side, we are waiting to get on with our life.?