The Dockyard Cement Facility will continue to be run by Maxcem Ltd. for the next ten years.

The company, headed by Dennis Correia, was awarded the lease by landlord West End Development Company (Wedco).

Maxcem Ltd. took over the operation of the facility from Jim Butterfield and his company Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) two-and-a-half years ago.

Part of the new lease requires that the company look at moving the plant in the future, offer an additional 20 percent of its shares to the public and outline immediate upgrades to the existing plant.

The decision was announced at a press conference called by Wedco chairman Walter Lister yesterday morning.

It has drawn criticism from the United Bermuda Party and raised a number of questions, not least from Mr. Butterfield himself.

He ran the facility for 40 years prior to selling up due to the expense required to meet Wedco's demand that BCC demolish the silos and rebuild the plant at a new site.

Wedco's board said its decision not to stipulate the immediate relocation of the plant in the new contract was as a direct result of the 30 percent drop in demand for cement over the past year.

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