City Hall racks up almost $150M in new debt to garbage contractors

-companies may pull services over non payment

Garbage contractors Puran Brothers Waste Disposal Inc and Cevons Waste Management Inc say they may be forced to consider pulling their services once again from Georgetown as City Hall has racked up another debt totalling nearly $150 million between the two companies.

The disclosure was made yesterday at the Haags Bosch Landfill by both General Manager of Puran Brothers Waste Disposal Service Kalesh Puran and Chief Executive Officer of Cevons Waste Management Morse Archer.

After a site visit at the landfill, which the two companies are managing through a joint venture, Puran revealed that his company is currently owed approximately $73 million for June until the present date, while Archer stated that his company is currently owed $75 million from May.

“So far, we haven’t heard anything concrete but we are still working at the moment. The other payments were settled. All they paid for apart from the arrears was for January, February, March and April but from May to September is still outstanding,” Archer explained.

Puran also said his company has not received any definite communication from City Hall, despite having a meeting with the administration last week. He said that the only positive thing that came out of the meeting was the plan for another meeting on Friday.

“We don’t have a definite answer at this moment but we are contemplating the way forward together because it is affecting our working capital and to work for four months without payments is kind of tough for us because there are a lot of services we provide,” he added.

Puran noted that he has to hold a meeting with his directors to decide on the way forward.

“This is our business–collecting garbage. We can’t take our trucks and convert them to pick up sand so we are hoping that the situation improves as time goes by and we are crossing our fingers and hope we get paid for services provided,” he added.

Archer said they cannot continue working indefinitely without being paid. “At some point in time we will have to stop,” he observed. “I mean, we are close to breaking point because as Kalesh said it has been five months since we haven’t been getting paid. It is a cycle that keeps going round and round all the time and it’s not something you can get used to. As everything else, I think what happened at this site is a testament of how professional we are and it’s a pity city council does not offer the same respect,” Archer said, referencing their work at the landfill.

The two men agreed that the outcome of the next meeting with determine their next actions, which should be decided before the end of the month.

They also noted that they are not ruling out the possibility of withdrawing their services.

In addition to the set meeting, they also related that they have sent a joint letter to the Ministry of Communities expressing their concerns.

Earlier in the year payments of $175,820,280 was made to Puran Brothers and $205,596,924 to Cevons by central government to cover outstanding debts. City Hall had also made a commitment to pay the contractors on time in 2018.

While they have not lost any employees due to the non-payments, the companies say the situation creates serious cash flow problems for them, which are often compounded by unstable fuel prices.

During past withdrawals of services by the companies, City Hall has been unable to ensure adequate waste disposal.