The decision by Cevon’s Waste Manage-ment to lay off dozens of its workers with effect from September 1 was taken “as a matter of last resort” and only after it became clear that there was unlikely to be any immediate-term resolution arising out of City Hall’s mammoth unpaid debt of in excess of $300 million dollars to Cevon’s and Puran Brothers, the two garbage disposal companies that had had a protracted contract with City Hall to provide the service in sections of the capital.
‘We never thought this day would come. We kept talking with City Hall and hoping that the Council would put something on the table that could cause us to ride out the difficult period. That has not happened. The truth is that we have no faith in the Council’s intentions. There is the feeling that the amount outstanding is so large that City Hall simply refuses to get its mind around how it will liquidate the debt. I think too that to a certain extent they had come to take us for granted. We had to deal with that,” Cevon’s CEO Morse Archer has told the Stabroek Business.
