The company now operating the cement silos at Dockyard will not have to dismantle its equipment or move the plant for at least five months, it was revealed in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess admitted that a lease on the twin silo site had been extended by the West End Development Corporation (WEDCO) until June 30.

However, following the House, Mr. Burgess clarified that the lease, which would leave the plant intact for five more months, had been signed by a new company Maxcem and not the former Bermuda Cement Company (BCC).

Questions were raised by the Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin's about the future of the BCCsite following the selling of the company to new shareholders.

Mr. Burgess told the House of Assembly: "WEDCO will not require BCCto dismantle the existing silos and build the plant on a different location.

" In response to two questions about granting another lease and the length of a new lease, Mr. Burgess responded: "I do not have a date for WEDCO signing a new lease with BCC. The current lease has been extended to June 30, 2008.

"I have no knowledge about the length of a new lease that WEDCO will offer to the BCC.

" However, clarifying his statements last night, Mr. Burgess said it was not BCC but a new company, Maxcem, which would not be required to do anything and that this new company had been given a lease until June 30 this year.

He said: "They won't be required to do anything. The lease is with a different company. We are looking at the whole master plan again.

"We are looking at it to see what the cost and what is best suited for the area

" Mr. Burgess, however, would not confirm that the shareholders of the former Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) Dennis Correia, Chris Shanks and Paul Simons were the current owners of Maxcem.

Mr. Burgess said: "I have not seen anything on paper. I cannot answer that definitively." Jim Butterfield, former majority shareholder and six other shareholders, sold their portions of the company to the three new owners after five years of protracted discussions.

WEDCO was requiring the company to demolish the silos, rebuild the plant at a new site, sign a 20-year lease and open 20 percent of the company to the Mr. Butterfield estimated it would cost $12 million to $15 million to rebuild.

He felt it was therefore too expensive and made no sense with only a 20-year lease.

In November, WEDCO told the BCC shareholders the lease would not be renewed. The seven then sold their shares in December to three new buyers Mr. Correia,Mr. Shanks and Mr. Simons.

Paperwork for the new owners of BCC was completed at the Register of Shareholders on January 25 and showed that Mr. Correia, husband of former PLP candidate Jane Corriea, was the majority stakeholder with 48,000 shares.

Giant cement manufacturer Cemex owns the second largest block with 46,353 shares and new owner Christopher Shanks has 10,800.

Michael and Anette Bierman retained the 5,622 shares and 3,815 shares they respectively previously owned. And Paul Simons owns 2,745 shares.

Meanwhile SAL Ltd. retained its 2,019 shares and Fiduciary Partners retained its 646 shares.

Last night an outraged Jim Butterfield, the former majority shareholder of BCC, said he would be consulting legal advisers today (Tuesday) about possible action.

He said: "I think the whole thing stinks. Their mandate was to kick us out so it doesn't surprise me at all with the behaviour. The only shock is that they are admitting it now."