Jim Butterfield said it came as no surprise to hear that Maxcem Bermuda Ltd. had not been required to fulfil the same terms and conditions to run the Dockyard Cement Facility imposed by landlord West End Development Corporation (Wedco) on his company, the Bermuda Cement Company (BCC).

Mr. Butterfield spoke out after The Royal Gazette revealed that Maxcem's lease for the facility would be extended to June 30, 2010, despite not being put out to tender, and that Wedco had no plans to require the existing buildings and silos on the site to be demolished or rebuilt at a different location - one of the stipulations required of BCC if it wanted to keep the contract.

And he also questioned comments made by Government MP and Wedco chairman Walter Lister in the House of Assembly last week referring to the UBP running the silos "like North Rhodesia" during its time in power.

"The terms and conditions we had were to move the silo and demolish the silo that was there and sell 20 percent of our shares to the public because they wanted to have empowerment," he said.

"We tried to meet every demand they made and it is no surprise to us at all that they have not followed through on those conditions - if it was America the Government would have been sued over a matter like this. Also I have no idea what Walter Lister meant by 'they run the place like North Rhodesia'.

"If you speak to anyone who worked for the Bermuda Cement Company I am sure they will say how well treated they were by the company.

"This whole situation was discrimination at the highest level."

Maxcem, which is headed by Dennis Correia, has been running the facility on a six-monthly renewal basis for the past two years since taking over from Mr. Butterfield and his company.

Derrick Burgess, Works & Engineering Minister, meanwhile promised to put out the deal to tender in the summer of this year, but that failed to happen, according to Myron Piper, former president of rival bidder Island Cement, as reported in this newspaper yesterday.