It has hit the headlines in recent months for all the wrong reasons — but West End Development Corporation chairman Walter Lister is adamant that the quango is fulfilling its mandate. The backbench MP told Sam Strangewayswhy he is open to the idea of a more transparent Wedco — and why the long-running cement silos saga is "not a big issue".

Walter Lister was reappointed chairman of the West End Development Corporation in January — just as a long-running wrangle between the quango and Bermuda Cement Company was coming to an end.

BCC shareholders had finally decided to throw in the towel and sell up after negotiations over a lease with Wedco broke down.

The change of ownership at BCC brought with it claims of a Government conspiracy to oust majority shareholder Jim Butterfield, who opted to sell rather than shell out for a costly relocation of the two cement silos at Dockyard at Wedco's insistence.

In February, Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess told the House of Assembly that Wedco had given the new company operating the silos, Maxcem, a lease until June 30 and the plant would remain intact until then.

Mr. Lister would not comment at the time and still won't be drawn on when — or indeed, whether — the silos will come down.

"I haven't gone that far yet," he says. "At this point in time, all of that is in negotiations. It will be made public in due course."

Asked what he thinks of the conspiracy claims, he replies: "It's not a big issue."

He adds: "What I'm doing is working on trying to get a long-term solution to the problem. Trying to get everybody on board so that they agree with the contract before them."

The veteran Progressive Labour Party MP — who previously served as Wedco chairman from 1999 to 2004 — says that since he wasn't in charge when BCC was told the silos would have to be dismantled, he can't comment on why that was said; nor can he say how long any future lease with Maxcem will be for.

"I'm not in a position to give you what went on over the last three years because I was not here," he says. "However, the present situation I can talk about. It's my objective to be able to give a contract for the long term."

Mr. Lister agreed to be interviewed about whether Wedco, a quango entrusted to look after and develop 214 acres of public land in the West End since 1982, is as transparent and accountable as it could be.

Overseas experts who studied the organisation back in 2000 didn't think so. A UK Civil Service College Directorate report said Wedco had a weak chain of accountability.

Asked if he thinks the Corporation has been transparent over the silos, Mr. Lister says: "I think The Royal Gazette had it out there for everyone to see.

"I wasn't here so I can't speak to issues which I wasn't here for. The Royal Gazette wrote reams about it so everyone could see and draw their own conclusions."

What does he think of the suggestion that Government should be the one to put information "out there" about a publicly-owned site?

"Not much," he replies.

This newspaper's A Right to Know: Giving People Power campaign calls for bodies like Wedco to open up to the public, as well as for public access to information (PATI) legislation to be tabled in parliament this year.

Such a law would require quangos to be more transparent and Mr. Lister says he supports that. PATI is a PLP initiative, he explains, and will be introduced according to the Government's agenda.

"It won't come before that," he says. "I'm looking forward to it. There are few people who would not support it. Anybody who is in their right mind and supports democracy would go for it."

Wedco must meet eight times a year by law and at the moment its meetings are held behind closed doors and no minutes are published.

In 2003, the Government's Central Policy Unit recommended Wedco hold annual public meetings and expressed concern at a "lack of consultation with the public and its stakeholders".

Mr. Lister says he is willing to ask his board of 11 directors to consider whether meetings should be held in public.

"Personally, I support the openness of any process but, as we presently speak, to open to the public would be a decision for the board," he says. "I don't plan to do it (ask the board) next week or next month but it's something that I could consider."

He believes Wedco is already an open organisation but could not recall a single example of a member of the public requesting information on anything.

"They haven't asked," he insists. "The public haven't asked any questions. The information we have here at Wedco, most of it is freely shared.

"I don't see why any person couldn't ask a question whereby they couldn't have a satisfactory answer. There is no big secret. We have an open-door policy."

Wedco — which has survived without Government funding for ten years — recently invited proposals for the redevelopment of the Victualling Yard at Dockyard, the former storage area for supplies for Royal Naval vessels.

"It's a very beautiful building," says Mr. Lister. "We want to have residences in the upper levels and commercial units in the lower.

"We put the RPF (request for proposals) out about a month to six weeks ago and that's for anyone interested in the development of the Victualling Yard."

So far, 16 proposals have been submitted.

He said Wedco's selection process for awarding contracts was "done openly" by a committee. "You have to trust somebody and we have a committee that sits.

"We have people who are proficient in specific things so they can advise us accordingly.

"The board are really just people who exercise common sense on the advice that's presented to us. I don't know how you can get more transparent than that."

Perhaps by opening up the process to public scrutiny by providing details of every contract awarded by Wedco, including a guide to the award process and disclosure about how decisions are taken?

Mr. Lister says he is open to ideas about how to improve the process. But he believes Wedco, which is up-to-date with its financial reporting and annual reports, is already on the right track.

The quango is preparing, he explains, for 2009 and the arrival of the mega cruise ships.

"We have been trying to build an infrastructure that will support the people who come," he says. "We have risen to the occasion before and I see no reason why we shouldn't rise to the occasion right now."

He talks of the upgrading of the Clocktower Mall, new closed-circuit television cameras to improve security, the pier currently being built for the ships and the train that will carry the expected influx of visitors from the docks to the shops, restaurants and other attractions in Dockyard.

"Dockyard is, we believe, the most visited destination on the Island," he says. "The ferries have been a big boost."

Mr. Lister's own ties to Dockyard are strong — his grandfather came to the Island from St. Kitts in 1904 and "because he was a black man, the only job they would give him was painting the bridges between Dockyard and Somerset".

His father also worked at the yard and was chief engineer at Boaz Island — one of the areas which falls under Wedco's jurisdiction.

He acknowledges that Wedco has had its challenges. "It's not all peaches and cream here," he admits.

"But he remembers Dockyard standing derelict for decades after the Royal Navy left and is proud of its redevelopment and hopeful for its future.

"It's almost like a little city within itself and I'm its mayor," he says.