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Waste disposal nightmare looms again

Jun 18, 2010 News

…as City Council seeks to “unearth” funds to pay contractors

Waste Disposal Contractors, Puran Brothers Waste Disposal Service, Cevon’s Waste Management Incorporated and Crawler and Wheeler Waste Disposal Service, are once again gearing to withdraw their services from the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown if they are not in receipt of payment for works completed for the last three months.
Reports are that the entities are set to take this action by Monday if no funds are forthcoming. The consensus was echoed by the contractors on Wednesday following an emergency meeting with municipal officials.
Public Relations Officer, Royston King, confirmed this development yesterday, adding that it was related to the contractors that the municipality is strapped for cash and therefore is not in a position to honour its obligation.
“We met with the contractors and the Acting Town Clerk, Ms Sharon Harry-Munroe, told them that we haven’t funds to pay them at this point in time.”
King revealed that the contractors were not satisfied with this disclosure, and have since threatened to withdraw their services. According to King, the municipality is very much aware that it is considerably indebted to the contractors and therefore will engage every possible measure to acquire revenue to make urgent payment.
In this regard, he said that some 28,000 demand notices have already been served to defaulting property owners even as the support of the judicial system is being engaged.
“We are urging all defaulting property owners to come forward and make their payments urgently.
We are looking at every possible area to find funds because we know that waste disposal service is a necessity in the city…”
King said that the municipality will be willing to work out payment arrangements with the defaulting rate payers in an effort to ensure that they honour their civic responsibility.
He disclosed yesterday, too, that another meeting has already been scheduled with the waste disposal contractors, where the matter of payment will be further discussed. And should any funds become available before Monday, he noted that the contractors will be paid.
“It doesn’t matter the amount we are able to garner over the next few days even if it doesn’t cover for the past three months we will pay the contractors whatever we unearth…”
The developing situation, according to King, will now challenge the ability of the municipality to pay workers’ wages and salaries on the stipulated date of June 25.
The PRO had earlier given assurance that efforts would have been made to ensure workers were paid promptly, an undertaking that the municipally has been unable to achieve for some time now.
It was not until the first week of this month that workers were afforded their wages and salaries for the month of May.
And this was the case since the municipality was forced to pay-off a hefty debt to the Guyana Power and Light Inc., thereby compromising its financial status.
Workers are also yet to realise a 10 percent increase in their pay package which was approved following discussions between the unions – Guyana Labour Union and Guyana Local Government Officers Union – and the relevant municipal officials.
The increase should have been reflected in the workers’ pay package last month. It was during a recent statutory meeting that the then Acting Town Clerk Yonette Pluck-Cort had revealed that due to the cash-strapped state of the council, efforts were made to write to the unions informing them of the inability to pay the increase.
And given the current state of affairs, King speculated that the municipality may again this month not be in a position to pay workers in a timely fashion.
However, he asserted that efforts will be made to “ensure that our workers are paid as early as possible.
We are asking our workers to be patient and to maintain their level of commitment to the municipality even as we try our best to pay them.”

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