-no debt resolution as yet

The Georgetown Mayor and City Council is yet to reach an agreement with the two companies contracted to collect refuse in the city.

The companies Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers Disposal Service withdrew their services after the Council had racked up a substantial debt. In a release on Monday, the Council had placed the value of the debt at $24 million. However, the Council’s Public Relations Officer Royston King told this newspaper yesterday that the debt owed to both companies is in fact about $60 million.  He explained that this sum would have been racked up from late last year up to about May of this year.

According to King, the Council paid both companies $2.5 million apiece earlier this week but said that this was not enough to ensure a resumption of operations.  He said that since Wednesday, no additional payments have been made.

King said that the city council is trying desperately to bring an end to the impasse by raising funds. He disclosed that the Council has been tightening up its debt collection, as part of the exercise to raise the money. He also said that Mayor Hamilton Green has been approaching big businesses which owe the Council in an attempt to get them to settle their arrears quickly.

King described the situation as an “unfortunate one” but said that the M&CC is working to bring a resolution to the situation by “early next week.” In the meantime, he is urging all residents who can transport their garbage to the landfill site to do so.

The PRO, meanwhile, disclosed that Cevons Waste Management is still collecting refuse from the market, while the Mayor and City Council has been collecting waste from the hospital and the abattoir.