City Hall has to come up with at least two month’s pay for garbage collectors or services to the city will be suspended. This was the ultimatum given to the City Council in a meeting with the contractors yesterday.
City Council spokesman Royston King told Stabroek News that the municipality had offered to pay the contractor two weeks worth of the total owed at yesterday’s meeting, which was held to discuss the city’s constraints and to reach an understanding. While the contractors indicated a willingness to accept the money, they are saying that it will not be enough. King added that another meeting has been scheduled for Monday but council has to come up with two months pay, estimated as between $12M and $13M, for the contractors. Every effort, he stressed, is being made to acquire the monies.
As of Thursday, King said that 28,000 demand notices were served to defaulters while court action has been taken against some, including big businesses. He said there are also discussions ongoing with defaulting businesses as the council pursues all avenues to accumulate monies by Monday’s meeting. In total, the amount owed is over $50M.
However, King said, “The administration has taken the initiative to mobilise municipal resources, equipment and men, to deal with collection and disposal of garbage in the event that we can’t find their money.” He stressed that council is hoping to be able to honour their payments to the contractors but added that they will be prepared to deal with the garbage pile ups if the contractors suspend services.
Meanwhile, an official of Puran Brother’s Disposal Service confirmed that the ultimatum was placed to the council at the meeting, which was also attended by representatives of Cevon’s Waste Management. The official of Puran’s said that City Hall owes them some $22M. He called the two weeks offer “ridiculous” and “insignificant,” pointing out that the company had outstanding payments that it has been unable to meet because it was not paid by City Hall. He said the company sees the suspension as the only option.
The city contracts three garbage disposal companies: Puran’s, Cevon’s and Craw and Wheelers. Efforts to contact a representative of Cevon’s Waste Management proved futile since no one was there to speak to this newspaper. Craw and Wheelers representative meanwhile said that they were unable to attend the meeting but are aware of Monday’s follow-up.
