Officials at the Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) — Bermuda's only cement producer — renewed warnings their current lease dispute could result in escalated cement prices and job losses.

Last week, the West End Development Company (Wedco), landlord of the only cement silos, at Dockyard, told BCC that it either accept its new lease conditions or be off the property by December 31.

Now, the ultimatum has left a shadow on the future of cement production on the Island and comes after six years of heated negotiations between the two parties.

The Royal Gazette obtained the binding and non-negotiable terms of the lease. They are:

* BCC must build a new facility 300 yards away from their current facility, down at the south base, which the company estimates will come at a $10 to $12 million cost;

* At a cost of $1 million, BCC must tear down its current building;

* In 20 years, BCC must hand over the keys to property to Wedco, with no right to renew the lease;

* BCC must sell 20 percent of itself to the public or 30,000 shares.

"Nine of the 12 shareholders, all local people, have said we don't think a $15 million price tag on a cement plant, is reasonable," said one BCC official who asked not to be named.

"We don't think this is the right way to go. So, it's like we don't share in the vision of Wedco. Wedco has a vision that this big cement dome will be torn down, and another plant will built further down.

"The nine of us have said that we think this is right because the cost of cement will have to escalate to pay this back."

However, the official alleges that Wedco has an ulterior motive, one that's entails payback for the company being owned mostly by whites for more than 40 years.

"I was told in one meeting that this is one of the last monopolies in Bermuda and 'we're going to break it'. And we were told by one Wedco official, 'you're a bunch of racists ripping off the community'. These are two things I've had to accept — and it stings and cuts deep.

"It's certainly not true, we've always put the community first."

When contacted by The Royal Gazette, Wedco chairman Stanley Lee, refused to comment on the terms of the lease, saying Wedco was still awaiting a formal response to it.

To allegations that Wedco board members have a vendetta against BCC and dislike it because has largely been owned by whites, Mr. Lee retorted: "I'm not even going to comment on that. That's absolutely ridiculous, I think it's appropriately rubbish and ridiculous that anyone would even say that.

"We'll get a response from them to us dealing with the negotiations and we'll go from there."

BCC, the Island's only bulk cement supplier, prefers to use the two silos already in place on Freeport Drive, which reportedly has a life expectancy of another 40 years.

House prices could rise as a knock-on effect if there's any instability at BCC and its operations, the company official claimed.

In the past, Alex DeCouto, of the Construction Association of Bermuda, stated that any price movement in cement would trickle down to the construction industry and consumer prices.

"It's just being able to count on a regular supply (of cement) that's probably the more critical issue," he warned.

So far, the majority of the BCC shareholders have elected to reject Wedco's lease terms, meaning the company could be evicted by the end of December.