– as M&CC fails to meet payment deadline
THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown has failed to meet its deadline for paying up its outstanding amounts to garbage contractors resulting in the latter suspending their services across the city.
Puran Brothers Disposal Services, Crawler and Wheelers Tractor Spares and Cevons Waste Management Inc. had threatened the City Council last week Thursday that services would be suspended had it not meet its financial obligations to them by yesterday.
Public Relations Officer at M&CC, Mr. Royston King, in a press statement, said yesterday that the municipality “regrettable to date, is unable to make (the) $75M available to the contractors”.
As a result, King said garbage would not be collected from the following areas today: Kitty, J&K Campbellville, Newtown, West Ruimveldt, South Ruimveldt Gardens, East Ruimveldt, Werk-en-Rust, Wortmanville, Belvoir Court, Prashad Nagar, Jacksonville Waterfront (Housing Scheme), North Ruimveldt, North and South Cummingsburg Waterfront, Lacytown, Robbstown, Bourda, Alberttown, Kingston, South Ruimveldt Park, and Lodge.
Tomorrow, King said garbage would not be collected from: Newtown, Kitty, A-D Campbellville, East Ruimveldt, La Penitence, Robbstown, Sophia, Blygezight, Lodge Housing Scheme, South Ruimveldt Gardens, Shirley Field Ridley Square, North and South Cummingsburg, Bourda, Lacytown, Bel Air Promenade, Bel Air, Thorens Drive, Century Palm Gardens, South Ruimveldt Park, Roxanne Burnham Gardens, and Guyhoc Gardens.
King said the Council is working assiduously to garner enough money to pay its contractors as well as honour its other financial obligations, including the payment of wages and salaries.
Meanwhile, he said council has started to mobilize its own resources to provide temporary collection in the main commercial areas across the city.
He said these include the abattoir, hospitals, and the municipal markets and that the Administration is also contemplating providing clearance to a few wards in Georgetown.
“The M&CC continues to ask citizens for their understanding and patience during this period when it is faced with this critical financial challenge,” King said.
An official from Puran Brothers told the Chronicle last week that the contractors met with officials from the M&CC in the Council’s chambers on the issue.
An official from Puran Brothers told this newspaper last Thursday that garbage contractors and officials from M&CC met in the Council’s chambers to discuss the issue.
The official said the municipality asked for more time to pay its outstanding amounts for March, April and May and that about three weeks ago, the municipality paid over a final 50 per cent for the month of February.
According to the official, this is not the first or second time that M&CC has treated contractors in this manner. He said the company did not suddenly serve the suspension notice but it was after making several telephone calls to them and receiving several failed promises.
An official from Crawler and Wheelers told this newspaper on the telephone that the company has advised M&CC that outstanding funds must be paid over as early as possible. The official said the company is running out of fuel and is in need of cash for spare parts as well.
Officials at Cevons Waste Management Inc. could not be reached for a comment.