Bermuda's booming construction sector faces virtual shut down in a matter of weeks with hundreds of lay-offs and potential bankruptcy for small businesses.

With no one in place to operate the Dockyard twin silo plant beyond the end of this year and no cement supply ship ordered, the only alternative is to bring in all the Island's cement in bags. That will mean an additional 200 containers being offloaded at the Island's docks in January alone.

The price of cement per bag will go up 65 percent, while the price of ready mix concrete will more than double.

With 4,000 workers employed in the sector, up to 1,500 jobs will be placed almost immediately in jeopardy.

Concern about the impact of a disruption to bulk cement supplies is now so high that the Construction Association of Bermuda has taken out a full page advertisement in today's newspaper (Page 33) outlining the timetable of disaster that will befall Bermuda within four weeks of the Dockyard cement plant closing.

The facility is scheduled to fall silent in 11 days' time after a breakdown in talks between the operator Bermuda Cement Company and landlord, the Government quango West End Development Corporation.

A cement supply ship filled up the silos just over a week ago, but no further shipment has been ordered. Demand for bulk cement is so high the silos must be replenished monthly. Unless someone has ordered another shipment – and Government has so far declined to say whether it has done so – the next ship will take more than a month to organise.

Questions posed by The Royal Gazette last Wednesday to the Premier's office and the Works and Engineering Ministry asking if a new cement ship delivery has been ordered, and whether Bermuda businessman Clifton Lambert's new cement company solution was being considered, have gone unanswered.

In a call for answers, the Construction Association has laid out a timeline of how a cement crisis will affect the Island over an initial four weeks.

It outlines future hardship without bulk cement supplies, including a claim that an attempt to keep major construction projects operating by using bagged cement instead would involve a doubling of the price of ready-mix concrete.

With 85 member companies, the construction association is keeping a close watch on the developments in the cement dispute.

Association president Alex DeCouto, said: "Government's latest plan was to take over the plant. We have spoken to Bermuda Cement Company and they said they have not entered into any agreement."

The association has spoken to delivery truckers, cement plant staff and others but found no evidence of any interim plan that will ensure an uninterrupted bulk cement supply once the cement company's Dockyard site lease expires on December 31.

"To run the plant requires ordering bags for the cement and knowing how people are going to be billed. If you are taking over the plant you are basically having to set up a $10 million company. You are not going to be able to do that in two weeks," he said.

The construction boss repeated his call for Wedco or Government to show its plan. He said the timing of the dispute on the eve of a general election was unfortunate, but he would have run the advertisement calling for answers whether the dispute had happened at any other time.

The current situation has resulted from a breakdown in protracted negotiations between Wedco and the cement company regarding building a new cement plant near the current one and making a percentage of its shares available "on the street".

After the cement company failed to follow through in November with a previous agreement in regard to the terms laid out by Wedco, Wedco said it would no longer extend the "good faith" lease on the site to the cement company.

The cement company was subsequently put up for sale. Government has indicated it wishes to buy the company's equipment and supplies and has offered $250,000 in relation to an estimate put on the items by the company with the intention of running the plant for an interim period while a new company is put in place.

However, the Bermuda Cement Company wishes to be sold as a going concern and is seeking a price believed to be around $1 million.

Mr. DeCouto said: "The easiest solution would be to agree a month-to-month lease with the cement company. All the infrastructure is in place, as are agreements with distributors and suppliers.

"Even the most focused of business people would have a difficult time trying to set up a new operation in the next three weeks. Maybe someone has been working behind the scenes setting up such a plan, but no one has spoken to us or any of the other people we've talked to."

The Bermuda Cement Company intends to close the plant on December 21.