Waste Management Corporation, WAMCO has said MVR 30.5 million is owed to the company by Male' City Council, and an additional MVR 59 million by households it serves.
Speaking at a press conference held Thursday, WAMCO's Chief Financial Officer, Haleem said 16,000 households are registered with WAMCO, out of which over 12,000 households are yet to pay pending bills of over three months.
Managing Director of WAMCO, Adam Mohamed said during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the corporation continued to serve both registered and unregistered households. As per the City Council's request, and following discussion with the Health Protection Agency and the government, garbage will now be collected from outside the apartment doors instead of from the ground floor, he added. However, several households are still taking the trash out to the ground floor, and therefore, registration will be open until the end of this month for households that wish to receive WAMCO's services.
'Since April 16 last year, during the pandemic situation, we have continued providing our services to registered and unregistered housholds, whether bills have been paid or not. Even though bills have not been paid for a long time, we have continued providing our services,' Adam said.
Adam further addressed some statements by Male' City Council. While the city council continues to express concern over trash being taken out to the roads, the council has not cleared the pooling points requested by WAMCO, he said. Adam said WAMCO's garbage trucks have to wait on the side of the road near the pavement while trash is being collected. This in turn causes difficulties to pedestrians, he noted. While waste collection services are provided between 06:00 pm and 11:00 pm, the solution to the issue would be designated points for the trucks, which the council is yet to provide, he added.
