Months after the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) announced it will purchase two garbage trucks to minimise its expenditures and improve efficiency in the area of garbage collection, those vehicles are yet to be secured.
Director of Solid Waste, Walter Narine, during an interview with Guyana Times explained that the project was sent to tender in March and is awaiting selection.
In addition to the garbage trucks, City Hall also intends to purchase a tractor and two trailers to aid in the area of garbage collection, Narine posited.
“Ministry of Communities of course is doing all the tendering from Government and also on our behalf. Ministry of Communities would have advertised for tender in the newspapers and interested suppliers would have sent in their tender documents. They are in the process of evaluating and awarding the contracts for
Director of Solid Waste, Walter Narine
these vehicles that we requested,” the Solid Waste Director explained.
He said during a previous statutory meeting, the Council decided that $75 million will be allocated to his department, which will be entirely used to fund the purchase of the vehicles.
The two trucks the M&CC intend to purchase will be financed using the $200 million subvention from the Communities Ministry, which was granted in this year’s budget.
Currently, City Hall pays approximately $90 million per month in garbage collection fees to its two major contractors, Puran Bros Disposal Service and Cevons Waste Management Inc.
“In our 2018 Budget, the $200 million that was given to us by the Government will be busted to purchase two new garbage trucks. Until those trucks are here, I don’t think we have the capacity to clear effectively the areas that the Council controls and we are still looking at that,” Mayor Patricia Chase Green has stated.
The two waste management firms had withdrawn their services on July 30, 2017, as City Hall’s debts had risen to the multimillion-dollar range.
According to the companies, the issue of non-payment has been a long-standing one, with many debts going as far back as 2015. However, they have since resumed collection after the municipality approached Central Government through the Communities Ministry for a bailout of $475,635, 245 to settle the city’s debt to Puran Brothers, Cevons, and another company after they would have pulled their services owing to non-payment.
The bailout was granted and Central Government decided to pick up the tab until December 31, 2018, after which the M&CC would step in.
On September 1 last year, the M&CC implemented fees for commercial waste collection. Small business operators are required to pay $5000 per month while medium businesses will contend with $8000 per month.
However, large business operators across Georgetown are required to pay the most significant figure of $12,000 per month for their waste collection.
The Solid Waste Director had told the Council that while the originally approved fees for commercial garbage collection were $5000, $10,000 and $15,000 – the last two were reduced to $8000 and $12,000 after consultations.
