In the face of a threat by the city’s two major garbage collection services to suspend their operations over hundreds of millions owed to them, City Hall has pulled their contracts for some wards in the capital that it hopes to clean on its own.
“I have been directed by the Town Clerk Mr Royston King, of the Georgetown Municipality, to inform you that effective Monday 22nd August 2016, the following services that your company have been providing to the municipality will be suspended until further notice,” reads a correspondence signed by City Hall’s Director of Solid Waste, Walter Narine, to Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers Waste Disposal Inc.
As a result, the city would assume responsibility for garbage collection in Alberttown, Queenstown, Cummingsburg, Kingston, East Ruimveldt, North and East La Penitence, the main commercial districts of the capital, Lamaha Springs and Lamaha Park, and North and South Ruimveldt, where the two companies had been providing their services.
The two private companies are owed over $250 million by City Hall and last week threatened to take strike action as their overheads are piling up and their employees and creditors are looking to them for swift payments.
“We were owed $97 million and were paid $1.2 million. We keep asking the bank to bear with us as we have our own debts but there is only so much they can bear,” General Manager of Puran Brothers Waste Disposal Inc Kaleshwar Puran had told this newspaper.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Chief Executive Officer of Cevons Waste Management, Morse Archer. “We are owed $168 million. We can’t go on. We have exhausted our monies and are existing at the mercy of people crediting us. If we don’t get substantial payment we will be forced to strike,” he said.
King’s response was that the city did not have enough to meet its financial obligations.
“Puran’s get paid last week but he ain’t get no big set of money. Cevons get the week before but he ain’t get no big set a money either. We are not paying them how they want to be paid,” King said.
Asked why the payments have not been substantial, he responded, “Because we ain’t gat.” Probed further as to what will happen, he added, “That is why the parking meter is important,” in reference to the controversial project.
Cutting costs
The companies believe that it is because they went public with their concerns about the city’s debt to them that their services in some areas were withdrawn, but City Hall said the decision had been long in the making.
“I suspect it’s more vexation than anything else and because of the story,” one company’s executive, who asked not to be named, said.
Efforts to contact King yesterday proved futile. He was not at City Hall when this newspaper visited and calls to his mobile number were directed to his voicemail.
However, Narine dismissed the suspicions of the companies, while saying that the plans were made since last year and City Hall was only waiting on a garbage truck fleet so that they could be executed.
“You would have seen in the papers that the contractors, because of non-payment, would have said that they will go on strike. Every day that goes by there is money that is accumulated for these contractors… and since we are equipped with the requisite amount of garbage trucks, we have decided to suspend a few of the areas and do it ourselves. Basically, it’s doing work by ourselves and cutting back on the cost to the contractors,” Narine said.
“Now the trucks are operational. We had the trucks but they had repairs to be done and stuff like that. So, it is not something that could be done halfway. We had to plan it properly and get the amount of staff and stuff like that. We have started doing that and as we get more vehicles in our fleet, we would be taking back areas given to the contractors because it is quite expensive on a monthly basis to City Hall with these contractors. We should have been doing this ourselves but because of lack of machinery and other stuff we were not able to do it. But now that we are equipped, we are going to start taking back contracts,” he added.
Narine explained that four trucks have been given by the Ministry of Communities and since there is ample staff to undertake the garbage collection and maintain the vehicles, the decision was taken to make use of its resources.
He said the city had given contracts for a number of areas because it had no trucks. “Ministry of Communities had given us four trucks that they had in their possession, so we had to plan it properly and it was on the cards before they said they would go on strike. It is not only the trucks, you see. You have to get the workshop up to scratch to deal with the trucks so that they can repair it timely. So, since we have all of that, that is where we are. So, effective Monday, that is what we will be doing,” he noted.
Further, the city has already worked out a system for procurement of parts and related needs. “We have a system to get parts promptly…yeah we do have there a full force workshop. The wages and salary bill by city council is very large. We can’t do two things. We can’t have staff and equipment and still have contractors doing their work. That is where we are,” he said.
Narine promised that the city will do a stellar job in cleaning the city and there will be no hiccups. “We had to make a decision. That is, you send home the staff and contractors are depended on, or you take back the wards and as we get more vehicles we are going to take back [more] wards,” he said.
“Everyone from the time they hear City Hall is going to do something, they are very skeptical. But if you follow my department, I really don’t go down that road,” he added.
