By Svetlana Marshall

As piles of garbage continue to build up around Georgetown, especially in the main commercial zone, the Georgetown City Council is still to decide on whether it will drop the hammer on the contractor, Guyana Waste Solutions (GWS), which has repeatedly failed to meet its contractual obligation, according to City Mayor, Alfred Mentore.

 GWS has been contracted to uplift garbage in 5 of the 15 constituencies within the city, including the East and West Ruimveldt, Albouystown, Werk-en-Rust, and the Commercial zone. However, the company, which is owned by cricketer turned businessman, Lennox Cush, has been operating in breach of the contract, with piles of garbage being left across city streets for days.

Mayor Mentore told News Source on Tuesday that GWS has been repeatedly warned about its poor performance and it is now for the full Council to decide on whether it will terminate at least one of the 5 contracts awarded to GWS. 

“The termination would have to take effect at some point. So, as we exhaust different opportunities, and the latitude we have been giving to this contractor, and other contractors that faulter from time to time, we will have to bring out the wild cane, one way or the other,” the City Mayor said.  

The Council is due to meet next Monday and the issue is expected to come up on the agenda. 

Late last month, the City Council’s Waste Disposal Committee met with the owner of Guyana Waste Solutions, Lennox Cush along with the company’s General Manager to discuss a possible solution.

The Mayor explained that at the meeting, the two sides agreed that the Council’s Waste Disposal Department, which is currently responsible for three constituencies, would lend support to GWS.

But Mayor Mentore said even with the additional support being offered, the issue remains the same with the Municipality being flooded with complaints. 

He said the new arrangement has also placed a burden on the City’s Waste Disposal Department, and so tough decisions would have to be made. 

“Base on the contract itself, it states, it doesn’t have the option of suspension, it has the option of termination. So, it is something that we will be looking at, at the next council meeting…I have been trying my best not to have to terminate but if, base on the discussions we will have at the next statutory, that we don’t have an option of suspension but we have an option of termination and that, at worse, maybe they would need to have a window of two contractors talking, where one has lesser jobs to talk to the one that has more jobs, and to find a way to have a support mechanism in place. Because, while, we were asking our department, which has about three constituencies, to do some work, it is also affecting our work, and we don’t want to dig one hole to full another one, and to end up having a challenge,” the City Mayor explained. 

GWS has been experiencing technical problems with its fleet of vehicles, in addition to a shortage of workers. 

Sand-Dip Disposal Services, which is another contractor, was also experiencing similar challenges with its fleet of vehicles, but according to the Mayor, after a meeting with the Waste Disposal Committee, the company managed to resolve the issues.

There are four companies with contracts totaling millions of dollars that are contracted by the Council to assist with garbage disposal services across the city.

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