Puran Brothers Disposal Inc last evening resumed garbage collection in the city after damage to the Demerara Harbour Bridge prevented its trucks from crossing since Monday.
The company yesterday said that it hired a barge to transport four trucks across the Demerara River to resume garbage collection
The company which is contracted by the Mayor and City Council had been unable to deploy its garbage trucks for collection in Georgetown due to the Demerara Harbour Bridge’s restriction on heavy vehicles after an accident early Monday morning.
Puran Brothers, one of the city’s main garbage collectors, operates from the West Demerara. Owing to the bridge being out of operation on Monday and subsequently closed to heavy vehicles, the company had not been able to execute its contracted duties.
Managing Director, Kalesh Puran ,yesterday told Stabroek News that they had to solicit the services of a barge to transport the trucks after they had been unable to elicit definite word from the bridge company as to when heavy machinery would be permitted to cross.
Puran yesterday told this newspaper that they had reached out to the management of the bridge and other stakeholders requesting a waiver to use the bridge but their efforts were unfruitful.
He stated that the bridge is currently allowing vehicles weighing up to seven tonnes to cross and despite their pleas to allow the trucks weighing eight tonnes, permission was not granted. Normal traffic is expected to resume across the bridge today.
“We haven’t been able to plan effectively because there is no definite word from the bridge as to when these heavy trucks will be allowed to cross. So we had to use the barge to transport the trucks across the river,” Puran explained.
Last evening one of the trucks began operating in the Kitty/Subryanville area, according to a social media post by the City’s Director of Solid Waste, Walter Narine.
Despite the Mayor and City Council’s announcement that an alternative arrangement is in place, garbage has piled up across central Georgetown and Kitty. Garbage bins filled to capacity have been observed outside of homes and businesses waiting to be emptied.
According to a statement from the council, the Solid Waste Management Department had put in place an emergency collection system to bring quick relief to residents as the Mayor and Councillors worked to restore regular collection.
Stabroek News was told that the council has been using tractors and trailers to collect garbage. However, in Central Georgetown there is still a large volume of garbage awaiting collection.
Puran yesterday said that while they understand how vital their service is to the city, they were caught off guard by the accident on the bridge.
He stated that for the past six years, the company has been working to lease lands from the council to operate from within the city but they have not received any word on the possibility of such a development.
“Nobody over the years assisted us with getting these lands to operate. We have been looking at finding a suitable area for the trucks in the city but our request is still be addressed. Over five, six years we have applied for lands to operate but we haven’t gotten it. I have spoken to the Mayor [Ubraj Narine] and he said to resend an application and we will be doing so,” Puran responded, when asked why his company doesn’t have an operations base in the city.
If the company is given adequate lands, Puran said they would be able to house about eight trucks at the operations base.
The company said it spent approximately $700,000 to hire the barge to transport the trucks from West Demerara to Georgetown.
