The Auditor General’s Office intends to carry out a special audit into the parking meter contractual arrangements which were made between Smart City Solutions Incorporated (SCSI) and the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC). The move is in keeping with the current audit it is carrying out at City Hall.
This was revealed by Auditor General Deodat Sharma in an interview with this publication on Thursday. While he could not provide details about the scope of the audit at this point in time, he confirmed that the audit office will be looking into the matter.
An audit into City Hall was requested by M&CC executives in a letter dated February 28. The Auditor General’s Office had taken up that request, and an audit commenced in March, 2017. However, during that exercise, City Hall officials have not been as helpful as had been hoped. Thus the final phase of the audit, which had commenced last month, has been stalled because of this lack of cooperation.
According to Sharma, his office has since requested the parking meter contract in furtherance of this audit.
The parking meter contract has been subjected to reviews from both the Finance Ministry and the Attorney General’s Chambers, after concerns had been raised about the project. Those reviews had not been favourable to the contract, prompting amendments to be made to the contract.
Among the concerns raised about the contract were the division of profits; the exorbitant amount being charged for parking; the development, as well as the terms of the agreement and the company undertaking the project.
An estimated 400 parking meters were expected to be installed along selected streets in the central business district of the capital city of Georgetown.
Concerns have abounded over the criteria used for the selection of the streets with parking meters, with some seeing it as a discriminatory move, as some patrons will be mandated to pay for parking while others will not.
The parliamentary Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had strongly criticised the project, especially in light of the fact that there were no consultations on the matter beforehand.
Despite a plethora of flaws highlighted in the contract, the reviews did not explicitly speak of illegality, and the green light for the commencement of the project was given once certain recommendations were implemented. This included a reduced fee for parking, which was eventually changed in the contract.
Opposition position
Commenting on the matter, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Anil Nandlall had emphasised that the Opposition has completely rejected the instalment of parking meters around Georgetown on basis of the current state of the economy.
“The PPP has spoken on this matter. We are of the view that we do not need, and do not want, parking meters in Guyana.
It will impose an additional financial and economic burden on the people of this country,” he had posited. According to the parliamentary agenda, Opposition MP Irfaan Ali will be moving the motion to debate the parking meter project on the grounds that there were no public consultations, stakeholders have pleaded with the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to revise the initiative, and the contract may have violated tender procedures.
The motion would have also addressed two additional considerations, namely that some councillors had objected to the project’s implementation, and the question of whether the legal hurdles and protocols have been addressed, such as the M&CC having authority over public roads such as Regent Street, Water Street and Avenue of the Republic.
The PPP/C, in its motion, had also intended to call on the Auditor General of Guyana to conduct a forensic audit into the Georgetown Municipal Council, including the parking meter contract. The parking meter project has since been the subject of High Court cases, mass protests in front of City Hall, and the intervention of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure in declaring major public roads off-limits from parking meters.
By the intervention of central government, the parking meter contract was eventually put on hold for a three-month period, which is expected to come to an end in June.
