GEORGETOWN Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has criticized the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) slothfulness in addressing the cost for the contentious container fees issue, declaring that she is not sure if the delay is a means of stalling the work of City Hall.Chase-Green was angry at Monday’s statutory meeting when she pointed out that the PSC promised to form a tripartite committee between the M&CC and the government to look into the matter. The M&CC submitted the names of their representatives in the allotted two days only to have two more weeks passed without hearing anything from the PSC.

“I don’t understand if this is a way of stalling what is happening at the City Council. I am asking the Town Clerk to write to the PSC to find out what is happening with the tripartite meetings. We are coming to the end and my understanding of the meeting that we had was that we were supposed to meet and complete at least by the end of this month.

“Even though we are collecting the $5000 retroactive from August 1, in the interim I don’t want to have an interim of five years. I need to have that interim period completed as early as possible so that we can move forward with our bylaws as regards container fees,” Chase-Green stated.

Meanwhile, when contacted for a comment on the issue, a source at the PSC, who requested anonymity, told this newspaper that this is not the first time that the mayor has sought to attack the Commission. The source said the PSC wrote to City Hall that very Monday but perhaps the letter did not yet reach the Mayor at the time she was addressing the statutory meeting.

According to the source, the PSC named its representatives in the letter and also requested to know who the government nominees are to sit at the meetings. The source said the PSC also requested to know the date for the first tripartite meeting.

The M&CC had decided to reduce the container fee from $25,000 to $5,000 following a meeting on August 5 with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the PSC.

It was agreed that the reduction would be an interim measure and that the fees would be collected at the various ports and wharves from August 1. The discussions were held on the possible implementation of per tonnage per cargo fee for all cargo within vehicles of specific type of weights traversing the streets of the City.

The $25,000 container fee which City Hall sought to implement attracted much criticism from members of the business community and the PSC. Some businessmen had also resorted to the courts, accusing the M&CC of illegally implementing such a fee. The court had ruled in favour of the businessmen.

City Hall had said that the money is needed to repair roads, which the containers have damaged over the years. Meanwhile, according to the release, the August 5 meeting with the private sector representatives was held in an atmosphere of understanding and cooperation.