Gov’t meets city councillors, private sector on garbage crisis

Several suggestions towards ending Georgetown’s garbage crisis were made when the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development held a meeting with the private sector and the City Council on the situation recently.

From Left: Permanent Secretary, Colin Croal, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud, Minister within the Ministry, Norman Whittaker, and Deputy Permanent Secretary, Abeena Moore at the press conference.
From Left: Permanent Secretary, Colin Croal, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud, Minister within the Ministry, Norman Whittaker, and Deputy Permanent Secretary, Abeena Moore.

Minister Ganga Persaud and Junior Minister Norman Whittaker convened a meeting with the Georgetown City Council, the private sector, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association to find solutions to the problem.

According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), a number of suggestions were made to the City Council including that it should focus on markets and public spaces and try to recoup outstanding rates. The Council currently only collects about 50 per cent of sums due and uses market revenue to meet other commitments, GINA said.

“The Council cannot continue to sit in a building and just wait for people to come to them. They should have outreach exercises which would see the 30 councillors who have paid themselves huge increases in Council fees without the required approval, going out into the various wards to meet with people…to discuss with them payment schedules and plans,” Whittaker said during a press briefing held at the ministry on Thursday.

Recently, the ministry spearheaded a cleanup exercise along with the Health, Natural Resources and Environment, Public Work, Agriculture and Tourism ministries. City Council was also involved, providing a compactor truck which the ministry helped repair after it had been non-operational for several weeks.  According to GINA, Persaud and Whittaker also met with a group that had alleged that the City Council owes them $14M for solid waste services provided. After follow-up discussions at the level of the municipality, it was determined that the individuals were contracted, though there is no evidence of the contractual arrangement between them and the Council. However, the ministry is working with the City Council and the persons to bring a satisfactory conclusion to this matter.

Haags Bosch

Meanwhile, construction on the Haags Bosch landfill is about 65 per cent completed as works on cell one are progressing. Whittaker said though there have been some challenges, the ministry has worked continuously with contractors BK International to address them. Further, it has been exploring ways of increasing the compaction density of cell one to ensure a lifespan of 7 to 10 years.

Additionally, the landfill will now operate from 8am to 6pm, an adjustment of its previous opening hours of 7am to 5pm. However, the hours will not be further adjusted as had been requested as this “would have serious cost implications.”