demolished.

And this week Works and Engineering Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons told The Royal Gazette the building was knocked down because it was uneconomical to repair it. He also said there were no immediate plans for the property.

"The Government is acquiring lots of property through the base,'' Mr. Gibbons said. "So Government is removing properties that are no longer required and are uneconomical to maintain.'' But developer and contractor Mr. Fred Thomas disagreed.

He told The Royal Gazette he believed that Government could have saved taxpayers money by restoring the building.

"This is another example of taxpayers money going down the drain'' Mr. Thomas said. "Government needs to start saving buildings and stop wasting money.'' He said Government could have saved money by keeping the walls of the old ZFB building and renovating the house.

"Government could have replaced the roof, put on a concrete belt to reinforce the house, put in new windows, and changed the electrical and plumbing systems,'' said Mr. Thomas who tried to buy the building about ten years ago.

He said he made a $500,000 bid at an auction run by Mr. Benny Rego, but was told the price was too low.

Two weeks later he raised his offer to $600,000, he said. And after receiving no reply for a month Mr. Thomas said he made a $700,000 offer to the owners' representative.

He said he was told that the owners were negotiating with another buyer which he later discovered was Government.

"I couldn't beat out Government because they could have named any outrageous figure,'' he said.

Mr. Thomas said he if he would have bought the building, he would have saved its walls which he said were sound.

DEMOLISHED -- The site on North Shore Road where the ZFB building used to stand.