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Garbage piles up in Georgetown
…as collectors withdraw services
A resolution to the garbage disposal situation in the city is still some way off, as the Mayor and City Councillors of Georgetown have not been able to source millions of dollars owed to contractors.
The contractors, Puran Brothers Disposal Service and Cevon’s Waste Management, as of Monday, decided to withdraw their service from the municipality, claiming that they were unable to continue without being paid.
A source close to the municipality has revealed that the city owes the two contractors some $60 M.
A senior management official of Cevon’s Waste Management disclosed that about $24 M is owed to his company alone for disposal works undertaken over the past three months. The official revealed, too, that the city entity also has some outstanding payment from last year.
This was the scene outside of several residences and business places in the city yesterday
“It is a lot of money tied up here and we can’t work if we are not paid,” he noted.
Similar sentiments were expressed by a manager of Puran Brothers’ Disposal Service. According to the manager, in addition to the three months that the municipality owes his company, it has not paid up one week’s arrears for August, last year.
He said that he would have been willing to continue offering his service to the municipality if at least one month’s payment was made.
“They wanted to pay us for half month alone. That is just $2.5M. That is the cost for two week’s operation and we can’t continue good business like that,” the manager said.
According to Acting Town Clerk, Yonette Pluck-Cort, the Acting City Treasurer, Andrew Meredith, had disclosed that he could have made available two weeks’ payment, amounting to about $10M, to the contractors. However Pluck-Cort noted, that the contractors had pointed out that the amount could not suffice and therefore withdrew their services.
City Mayor Hamilton Green said that he met with the contractors yesterday but was unable to find common ground in terms of a payment offer. The contractors were more concerned about the finance department’s repeated failure to operate in good faith with them.
The Mayor said that he would have to consult with the finance department before meeting with the contractors again.
At a meeting convened by the Finance Committee of the municipality, yesterday, efforts were being made to identify the possible sources of revenue to meet the payment of the contractors.
Public Relations Officer, Royston King, said that the municipality most likely have to resort to intensifying its rates and taxes collection
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