-full collection resumes today
The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has announced that the City Treasurer has paid the sum of $40 million to contractors Puran Brothers and Cevons Waste Management for the collection and disposal of garbage in the city.
City Hall, in a press release, said it was aware of the present garbage situation and was working with a deep sense of urgency to encourage its garbage contractors to fully resume work today, noting that works had already resumed in the commercial areas of Georgetown.
Manager of Puran Brothers Kalesh Puran told Stabroek News that his company had received payments from the M&CC and as a result will fully resume work as of today.
Puran said yesterday morning that City Hall had paid his company the sum of $2.6 million, which represents half payment for the month of March. He added that the municipality has promised to hand over the balance owing during the course of today. The manager said he was taking it in good faith that the M&CC will honour its commitment.
Efforts to contact Cevons Waste Management for a comment proved futile.
According to the release, the present garbage situation has serious health implications which are affecting 42,000 households, representing approximately 180,000 people residing in Georgetown and an additional 60,000 who visit the city on a daily basis for business and other activities.
The release said the Director of Solid Waste has reported that many citizens have been visiting the landfill site to dispose of their garbage for which the council said it’s extremely grateful.
However, the municipality said, there are reports also of citizens who are dumping their waste on open spaces and on other city reserves. City Hall has stated that such action could only do harm to the environment and the health of those very people who indulge in improper disposal. As a result, the council is pleading with citizens, not withstanding its own shortcomings in this area of its responsibilities, to desist from dumping garbage in places other than the landfill site off Nelson Mandela Avenue.
The council is also urging all property owners to pay up their rates and honour their civic responsibility to their city. Property rates account for more than 70% of the M&CC’s total revenue, the release said, and added that if citizens did not pay, then the municipality would be hard pressed to honour its financial obligations to its contractors and others who assist in providing services to the city.
City Hall said it would like to thank citizens for their understanding and patience during their period of financial plight and hoped the situation would improve as home owners come forward and pay their rates.
