– PUC to mediate
A High Court judge yesterday ordered the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) to reconnect water supply to all properties under the control of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).
The M&CC filed an ex-parte application in the High Court after the GWI disconnected its water supply claiming arrears of $87 million.
Justice Winston Patterson, who heard the matter in Chambers, ordered GWI to ensure the uninterrupted supply of water to all M&CC properties: City Hall compound at Avenue of the Republic; the Municipal Abattoir at Water Street and the Bourda and Stabroek Municipal markets. An injunction was also granted in the M&CC’s favour, restraining GWI from interfering with or disconnecting the water supply of any of the properties under control of the M&CC. Justice Patterson also ruled that GWI is to continue negotiations with the M&CC in order to resolve the matter.
A summons was issued to the GWI to attend the next hearing of the matter scheduled for May 27.
M&CC Public Relations Officer Royston King said the council was also suing GWI for the monies owed to M&CC for services done for the water company.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, Justice Prem Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday afternoon that the PUC would be stepping in to act as a mediator in the negotiations with the two entities.
Efforts to contact GWI yesterday for a comment proved futile.
The M&CC had said at a press conference on Thursday that it was prepared to take one of three steps against GWI; legal recourse, taking the matter to the Public Utilities Commission or arbitration.
Mayor Hamilton Green had said that GWI’s figure was grossly out of proportion with the municipality’s; citing duplication of connections at certain points as one factor responsible for the $87 million bill the water company has submitted.
Green said the council had employed the services of a professional to determine the figure owed which was about $8 million.
Meanwhile, Andrew Meredith, acting treasurer at the M&CC, posited that the probability that the figure was incorrect was considerable, since it had changed five times from the initial value which had stood at $500 million.
