City garbage collectors withdraw services

…M&CC admits no funds to pay

Financial strain at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has once again forced principle collectors, Puran Brothers and Cevons Waste Management, to withdraw their disposal services from Monday next.
This was revealed by City Hall on Thursday, which in a statement explained that “…because of a serious financial shortfall, the Council is unable to honour its obligation to both contractors in a timely manner, a situation which the Council regrets.”
However, five of the small garbage contractors have since expressed willingness to work with the Council from Monday, November 26, to carry out the collection services. As such, the Council is scheduled to meet with these small contractors today to concretise the details of the agreement.
According to the governing body in the Capital City, it expends approximately $30 million monthly for the removal of waste from the Georgetown environs. This solid waste management bill, it added, accounts for 38 per cent of the Council’s monthly income, which is some $89 million.
To this end, the M&CC said that moving forward next year, it will have to reassess how it manages waste collection in the City.
Last month, both Puran Brothers and Cevons Waste Management had said that they were owed some $150 million by City Hall. This debt was said to have been outstanding since the second quarter of 2018.
Puran Brothers Disposal Service is owed $73 million, while Cevons Waste Disposal is owed $75 million. At that time, the two entities had been contemplating pulling their services, since there was “no positive outcome” to their meetings with City Hall.
It was also indicated that the two entities had been engaged by the Council on several occasions, but there weren’t any discussions on how their payments would be made.
With the holiday season’s increased operational costs impending, there will be a steep escalation in the losses suffered by these entities as well.
“We are contemplating a way forward together, because it’s affecting our working capital. To work for four months without receiving payment is kinda tough on us, because it’s a lot of costs behind these services that we provide,” Puran had stated.
For one of the collectors, the monthly operational expenditure is somewhere in the vicinity of $15 million.
City Hall’s financial crisis dates back to times when, with no other option, both solid waste collectors had been forced to withdraw their services until pending payments had been made. Staffers were also dismissed and later rehired in light of this process.