The newly elected Georgetown Mayor and City Council should be allowed to assess the ongoing payment problems with the city’s two largest garbage disposal contractors and decide if government should be approached for help, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said yesterday
“I think that from today, you would have new management at the City Hall and, therefore, I believe it is not only right that they be given an opportunity to wrap their minds around this problem and if, in their deliberation and their contemplation, there is a requirement for additional help, I would leave that call to be made by the council,” Harmon said during his post-Cabinet press briefing.
As it stands, City Hall owes Puran Brothers and Cevons Waste Management a total of $160 million for almost six months of work. On Monday, the two companies pulled their services and this forced City Hall into a new garbage collection arrangement with five small contractors. However, garbage has been piling up around the city. In similar situations previously, central government had stepped in and paid off the council’s arrears.
