Govt. contemplates $174M bail-out for City Hall -sum intended to settle garbage disposal debt

Dec 08, 2018 News

Government is currently considering a $174M bailout for City Hall to address its garbage disposal woes. This publication was privy to this development even as two major garbage disposal companies, which had recently pulled their services for non-payment, announced that they were prepared to return to work.
The two companies – Cevon’s Waste Management and Puran Brothers Inc. – in a joint statement issued yesterday said, “We await the ‘green light’ for City Hall to return to work.”
Their decision comes on the heels of a meeting earlier in the day which was attended by Minister of Communities, Mr. Ronald Bulkan, officials of the Georgetown City Council and representatives of the waste disposal companies.
The meeting facilitated discussions on the possibility of a settlement of the sums owed to the companies for services they provided to the city this year.
“The meeting was amicable and constructive. It yielded what we believe to be credible assurances that settlement of the outstanding debt will commence very shortly,” the waste disposal companies noted in their joint statement.
With a mere few weeks remaining before this year comes to an end, the garbage disposal companies intimated that “our understanding is that the first payment will be made before the end of 2018.”
The companies said too, “We have, without prejudice, accepted those assurances,” adding that they have agreed to “return to work with immediate effect” subject to the assent of City Hall and under the terms and conditions stated in their respective contracts.
“In taking this decision, we remain mindful of the manifest inconvenience which citizens of the capital and its environs have had to endure,” said the garbage disposal contractors who pointed out “Our goal is to restore a condition of normalcy in the shortest possible time.”
“This decision has been taken in good faith and consistent with our commitment to contributing to the welfare of the capital and its environs,” they said.
Kaleshwar Puran, General Manager of Puran Brothers Inc., told Kaieteur News in early October that City Hall owes his company $73M for services rendered from June 2018 to early October. Also, Chief Executive Officer of Cevon’s Waste Management, Morse Archer, said that the City owes his company $75M for services rendered from May 2018 to early October.
At the time, both officials of the major waste disposal companies had said that they were making attempts to obtain the outstanding payments, and would consider strike action if their demands were not met.
In addition to the two major garbage disposal contractors, the City Council had also utilized the services of five others namely: Sandeep, C&S, Garbage Eaters, Grandison and Campbell’s Waste Management.
These companies the council had reportedly contracted last year to perform works on the city when major garbage disposal companies rescinded their services to the city in protest of non-payments.
Reports suggest that the Council has not completed payments to those companies for works done from August to November 2017.

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