Maxcem Ltd. has been awarded the lease to run the Dockyard Cement Facility for the next 10 years by landlord West End Development Company (Wedco).

The company, which is headed by Dennis Correia and has been operating the silos for the past two-and-a-half years since taking over from Jim Butterfield and his company Bermuda Cement Company (BCC), will continue running the facility on the condition that it looks at moving the plant in the future and offers an additional 20 percent of its shares to the public.

Maxcem, whose contract was due to expire on June 30, will also be required to outline immediate upgrades to the existing plant, including a new bagging system and other improvements to the aesthetics of the site.

The announcement was made at a press conference called by Wedco chairman Walter Lister yesterday morning.

In December 2007, Mr. Butterfield, who had been operating the facility at Dockyard for 40 years, decided along with six other shareholders to sell up the business because he thought it was too expensive to meet Wedco's original demands to demolish the silos and rebuild the plant at a new site.

Their stakes were bought by Mr. Correia, cement manufacturer Cemex, Christopher Shanks and Paul Simons after five years of protracted discussions.

At the time, BCC argued it would cost up to $15 million to move the silos and that they had approximately 40 more years of use in them.

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.

Mr. Lister said that cement was an important commodity for the community and the contract for the facility was awarded in the best interests of Bermuda.

Asked why it took so long to put the contract out to tender, he replied: "As it (the cement facility) was operating successfully I didn't want to interfere with it at that point in time and I think the time was right for putting the RFP out and we were happy with the responses we have had and the committee has made a selection and the board has accepted it."

Mr. Lister said the bidding process was open and fair, with everyone having an opportunity to bid for the contract.

"There was one person who was disgruntled and they came to us the last day of the RFP and they asked us to extend it, but it wouldn't have been fair to the other people in the process," he said.

Last month, Myron Piper, of Island Cement Ltd., which is backed by major shareholder the Bermuda Industrial Union with a 20 percent share in the company, told The Royal Gazette he had asked for an extension to the deadline which was denied.

Mr. Piper at the time branded Wedco's RFP process as a "complete farce" that made a "mockery of black empowerment and the democratic process", adding it appeared to have been written with a "preselcted competitor in mind" based on the submission questions.

He said that contractors in the bidding had been set "unrealistic" deadlines of less than a month, meaning that only Maxcem as the leaseholder and operator at the time or those with prior knowledge of the RFP conditions could meet them.

But Mr. Lister refuted those claims, saying: "It is only their opinion, it is not fact."

Wedco announced its intent to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the lease and operation of the cement facility in May and received comprehensive proposals from three bidders before the deadline of the end of June.

According to Wedco, the RFP was almost the same version issued several years ago, requiring a company profile, a business plan showing a clear understanding of the proposal, supporting documentation from an overseas cement supplier, the proposal of an interim facility, a transition strategy for the takeover from the existing facility and operator and a statement detailing the operation of the facility. Additionally the winning bidder would have to invest capital into the existing site immediately.

A sub-committee consisting of members of the Wedco board and management was set up to review the submissions and present its findings to the full board to make a final decision. The board then accepted the committee's recommendation of Maxcem.

Island Cement put in an application to run the facility at Dockyard back in June 2008 after an offer to join forces with Maxcem to lease and operate the plant was rejected, but heard nothing back from Government.

Previously Island Cement's offer to buy all of Maxcem's Bermudian-owned shares was initially turned down and Maxcem's major overseas shareholder partner at the time, Cemex, had also rejected Maxcem's counter-offer to allow Island Cement to buy a minority stake.

Mr. Piper said that subsequently he went with Mr. Lister to look at potential suppliers Titan Cement and met with the shipping company in Port Everglades. But having set up supply deals with Titan, his company lost its credibility as a result of not being able to bid for the contract.

Last year, Mr. Piper said that he contacted Works & Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess and Mr. Lister to express his interest in putting forward a proposal and had parties interested in supplying cement to Bermuda.

As of January 2008, Mr. Correia was the majority stakeholder in the new company Maxcem with 48,000 shares, followed by Cemex with 46,353 shares, while Mr. Shanks owned 10,800 shares, Mr. Simons 2,745 shares, Michael and Annette Bierman 5,622 shares and 3,815 shares respectively, SAL Ltd. 2,019 shares and Fiduciary Partners 646 shares, according to Register of Shareholders records.