Premier Alex Scott accused the cement contractor at the heart of the lease row in Dockyard of being a bad tenant.

Bermuda Cement Company fears it?s about to lose the tenancy its had for 40-years from the West End Development Corporation.

It prompted BCC boss Jim Butterfield to compare Bermuda to Zimbabwe after implying the company was being confiscated while Bermuda Industrial Union boss Derrick Burgess reportedly said the plant should go to ?our people.?

Last night Mr. Scott told The House of Assembly he had met with Mr. Butterfield over the issue. He said WEDCO had approached the company about an increase in rent. He said BCC were asked to paint the silos which are very visible to people entering Dockyard but had refused. ?He was asked to do things to maintain the property. He refused.?

He said neither WEDCO or Government was coveting the business. WEDCO was merely putting out the tender but BCC were perfectly welcome to bid again. The Premier said Mr. Butterfield had told him a relative had asked why he didn?t just go ahead and pay the rent. ?He said: ?I wish I had?. He realised he may have responded and acted inappropriately,? said Mr. Scott. ?The question was about tendering. Everyone including BCC will be allowed to tender.?

Premier Alex Scott has ruled out positive discrimination. He said: ?That brings it to the question of policies towards business, black or white. I have never strayed from this point. Those who win the tender do so on merit.?

He said simply by levelling the playing field black businesses were doing better under the PLP. ?Just by being fair we make it better for blacks. We don?t have to anything extra. Works and Engineering used to have a shortlist of who should tender. You were cut out even before you were cut in. We don?t do that. It was fair.?

This point was echoed by WEDCO chairman Walter Lister who said the first time he knew all the BCC shareholders were white was when Mr. Butterfield had mentioned it in the press.

Opposition Health spokesman Michael Dunkley questioned why Mr. Lister had waited a week to say this after the island had endured a divisive row. Mr. Lister said he had put out a press statement five days later explaining WEDCO?s above the board stance but only one paper had picked it up and given it just one line ? incorrectly.