Guyana parking meter fiasco: Renegotiation committee granted one-month extension

Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green says she is awaiting the recommendations of the Parking Meter Renegotiation Committee (PMRC) before making a pronouncement on whether paid parking would remain under Smart City Solutions Inc (SCSI) or be scrapped and retendered.

Chase-Green told Guyana Times that PMRC Committee Chairman Malcolm Ferreira has requested an additional month to wrap up consultations and prepare a report for presentation to the M&CC; and the Council voted on, and approved, this request.

Town Clerk Royston King has since written Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan, informing him of the additional month’s suspension.

The M&CC had, on May 13, 2016, entered into a contract with SCSI for metered parking to be implemented in Georgetown. However, the project, having come under intense scrutiny, was rejected by various public and private stakeholders, the Opposition, and even some Central Government officials over the clandestine way it was being foisted unto the populace, its prohibitive pricing, and the contracting company’s general disregard for the way the new mechanism was introduced to the public, among many other concerns.

The project had become effective in late January 2017, but several large protests calling for the contract to be revoked were staged in front of City Hall, while multiple stakeholders took the M&CC and the SCSI to court over the matter.

Under pressure, Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan, who had initially passed the by-laws bringing parking meters into effect, ordered on March 21, 2017 that it be suspended for a period of three months, to facilitate renegotiation of the terms of the contract.

The Parking Meter Renegotiation Committee (PMRC) was established on April 26, 2017, one month after Minister Bulkan had suspended the paid parking initiative. Its members are Malcolm Ferreira (Chairman), Noelle Chow-Chee (VC), Roopnarine Persaud, Ivelaw Henry, Trichria Richards, Carlyle Goring, and Heston Bostwick.

Consultations are ongoing, and stakeholders are encouraged to visit the Council Chambers to meet with PMRC members and submit their proposals.

Asked about the possibility of refunding citizens who would have purchased parking meter credit in bulk quantities, Mayor Chase-Green has said it is too early to make a pronouncement in this respect, and that she would have to await receipt of the PMRC report in order to be guided in her actions.

The PMRC’s terms of reference (ToR) were drafted and approved by a majority of City Councillors. The ToR authorises the PMRC to “engage with all stakeholders within the parameters of the framework agreed upon by the Council, Cabinet and Smart City Solutions (SCSI), to seek to determine what terms of the agreement can and should be negotiated to bring the contract in harmony with the desires of the Council, Central Government, SCSI and the citizenry.”

Mayor Chase-Green has since withdrawn herself from participating in any matter relating to renegotiation of the contract, since she, Town Clerk Royston King, and Councillor Oscar Clarke are the ones who had signed the contract to implement the controversial project. PPP councillors have likewise withdrawn from participating in any matter relating to renegotiation of this contract, since they also were against paid parking from the inception.