The deadline for a decision on the new contract for the Dockyard Cement Facility has expired with no announcement being made about who will be awarded the deal.

Leaseholder Maxcem's six-month contract ran out at the end of last year and Island Cement has put in an application to run the plant at Dockyard after an offer to join forces with Maxcem to lease and operate the facility was rejected.

Maxcem has also applied to have its contract renewed, but there was no response on Wednesday from the facility's landlord West End Development Company (Wedco) or Government about who had been handed the new deal. Maxcem was also unavailable for comment.

The Cement Facility is the lifeline of the construction industry, one of Bermuda's biggest employers, but its future remains uncertain.

Island Cement, which is backed by 20-percent shareholder the Bermuda Industrial Union, submitted a proposal to Government to lease and operate the plant at Dockyard in June, but Wedco granted Maxcem a six-month extension to its contract.