Cevons, Puran Brothers...

believe that it will be any different this time,” one Regent street merchant told this newspaper.

Outside the Stabroek Market a small group of vendors hastened to tell the Stabroek Business that there was no garbage disposal service in the capital that can muster the collective capability of Cevons and Puran Brothers. “The others don’t really have the equipment,” one vendor quipped. Another expressed the view that the real challenge for the replacement service providers was likely to come when there is a pileup of the weekend’s garbage.

When Stabroek Business spoke with Cevons’ Chief Executive Officer Morse Archer on Wednesday he said that both companies were keen to publicly dispel the view being articulated by both the Town Clerk and City Mayor Patricia Chase-Green that they were “acting unreasonably” in pursuit of their efforts to have the debt liquidated. “It is simply not true to state that we have rejected any serious offer in relation to the liquidation of the debt. The council has been disrespectful to us; they have been dismissive of us; they have written us cheques that have bounced and they have made us promises of payment that they have not honoured. Let me say this: If City Hall were to make us a fair and reasonable proposal tomorrow for the liquidation of the debt, bearing in mind the amount owing to us and if they do so in an environment of trust we would sit with them tomorrow. My view is that there is a lack of respect for us as the contractor on their part.”

Archer told Stabroek Business that he had seen a media release issued by the Town Clerk on Wednesday in which he had described the two waste disposal companies as City Hall’s “partners.” He said he had found King’s remarks baffling. “You owe us millions of dollars which we have already worked for; we keep faith with you and when we demonstrate our concern by withdrawing our services you issue us with letters terminating our contracts. A few days later you issue a public statement describing us as partners. That makes no sense at all,” Archer said.