Cleansing cooperative to lose Lm5,000 bank guarantee

The Public Cleansing Cooperative - Koperattiva Ndafa Pubblika - will be losing the Lm5,000 bank guarantee that it had committed in favour of the Association of Local Councils.

Moreover, all moneys due to the KIP for the collection of refuse it has done during the past couple of months will be retained by the association, association president Ian Micallef said yesterday.

These measures were decided yesterday during an association meeting.

Refuse collection in various localities had come to a grinding halt, sending residents up the wall after the drivers employed by KIP decided to call it a day because they claimed they had not been paid for months on end.

When asked what amount was due to the KIP, Dr Micallef said that on Monday, the 32 councils involved in the dispute would pass on to the association details of the moneys due.

While the majority of local councils in this sticky problem are still to pay the bill for refuse collection for July, there are other councils that have unpaid bills going back to May, Dr Micallef said.

When asked why these monies were to be retained by the association, Dr Micallef argued that each local council involved in this issue was paying for emergency services to have the domestic rubbish collected on time.

"The association wants to ensure that the extra cost that the local councils are having to fork out because of this situation would be compensated for from the monies that are due to the cooperative."

On Thursday, Dr Micallef had noted that the former secretary, president and vice-president of the KIP were now the shareholders of a new company called South West Cleaners Ltd offering refuse collection.

Dr Micallef added that the new company was touting for business in those local councils that were contracted to KIP, giving the impression that they were taking over from where the KIP left off.

"The association wants to make it crystal clear that the established tendering process will be followed and new tendering will be decided by the local councils involved and the association.

"When the new tenders are issued, it will be up to all the operators to bid for them," Dr Micallef said.

The cooperative now had accumulated debts of between Lm750,000 and Lm1 million, most of which was owed to the government in VAT and other payments related to the dumping of waste in rubbish dumps.