In Bermuda and around the world, the estimated expenditure to deal with the "millennium bug'' will be staggering.

The estimated cost to the US Federal Government will be $30 billion -- requiring as much as $3 billion to fix their defence systems alone.

And experts say it will cost the world a staggering sum of between $600 billion to $3,276 billion to get it right.

Just what is everyone paying for and why so much? Some companies are still unaware they could face oblivion because of the "millennium bug'', which may cause mayhem in some computers at midnight on December 31, 1999.

Those in the know are seeking to be "2000 compliant'' -- seeking to ensure that their computers will work the way they are supposed to by the first tick of the clock in the new millennium. There's mounting evidence that many won't.

As clocks tick past the start of the new millennium, many computers across the world will either crash or start pumping out wrong data.

Despite widespread publicity about the threat, many companies have failed to begin taking action. If they don't move soon, many could find their systems crashing -- possibly triggering a company collapse.

The problem stems from shortcuts taken by programmers in the 1970s and 1980s who tried to save computer memory by abbreviating dates to the last two digits. This will work fine until the end of the 20th Century, but computers will read the year 2000 as 00, sparking possible fatal errors.

Scouring through millions of lines of computer software codes to solve the problem is taking a massive army of computer programmers.

Some of the most knowledgeable about this problem don't want to be on an airplane, or in an elevator when the new millennium is rung in. If the problem is not fixed on computers that may be controlling those devices, no one knows how safe they will be.

The mistake aside, many believe the biggest problem is that too few companies, countries and individuals are paying attention to a problem that must be addressed now to prepare for the new millennium.

Last month, The Times in London, put the issue in focus, devoting a full four pages to the related issues under headlines such as "Millennium Crisis'' and "Mistake of the Millennium''.

Those who can fix it are in such high demand, that they charge a fortune.

Computing Magazine has already reported that project managers are charging as much as 2,500 ($4,100) a day for advice, which is likely to rise 20 to 30 percent a year.

For that kind of money, companies will seek opportunities such as upgrading their equipment at the same time. Some companies have been working on the problem for four years.

There are tons of information available on the subject. Those interested to know more are visiting web sites on the Internet that deal extensively with the subject. People also visit an array of cities where there are seminars on the problem.

Information technology experts fear that even though a huge amount of effort will be invested in curing this problem before 2000, many programmes dating back to the 1970s are buried deep in computer systems and will resist discovery.

Some forecasters have said the problem could be serious enough not only to cause many corporate bankruptcies, but might even trigger a world economic depression.