The merger of two government quangos will lead to the creation of the new Bermuda Land Management Corporation, the House of Assembly was told on Friday.

In an update on merger, Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, the Minister of Public Works, said the amalgamation process of the West End Development Corporation and Bermuda Land Development Corporation, was now in its final chapter.

Colonel Burch tabled the West End Development Corporation Amendment Act 2024 which will complete the merger. The bill will be debated by members of parliament at a later date.

Colonel Burch said the BLMC will manage all assets which both Wedco and the soon to be dissolved BLDC, owned.

In addition, he said with the merger there will be no job losses.

Colonel Burch said over the past two years, a number of operational activities had taken place to prepare for the amalgamation.

These included the creation and implementation of new identical union collective bargaining agreements for both Wedco and the BLDC, the completion of job description reviews and internal policy assessments as well as the integration of Wedco and BLDC servers and software to operate from a single location.

In addition, he said the chief financial officer at Wedco was now acting in a dual role for both entities and key staff have been relocated to assist with the transition.

He said a joint marketing and public relations strategy has been established for the BLMC.

In March, Colonel Burch said the merger faced a delay which was tied to staffing challenges within the Attorney-General ‘s chambers to complete the legislation to finalise the process.

On Friday he said: “While it was the full intention for this initiative to be completed by January 2024 — and I must clarify that operationally, this target has been met.”

He added: “The merger team stands ready to complete the consolidation once the necessary legislative requirements are concluded.”