The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown has extended the stipulated 14-day public scrutiny period for its amended parking meter by-laws by an additional 14 days, which expires on May 8, according to Town Clerk Royston King.
King made the disclosure at Monday’s statutory meeting of the Council. The Town Clerk told the Councillors that they have received a number of written comments as it relates to the amended by-laws hence the suggestion to have the public scrutiny deadline extended.
Currently, the amended by-laws are posted at the Agricola Post Office, General Post Office, East Ruimveldt Market, Albouystown Market, Bourda Market, Stabroek Market, Festival City Clinic, the Mayor’s Office, the Offices of the Town Clerk and Chief Constable, the City Treasurer’s Department and the Dorothy Bailey Health Centre.
The current set of amended by-laws was approved at an Extraordinary Statutory Meeting on April 4. Since then an oversight committee was established to supervise the proper functioning of the controversial parking meter project. The committee has two Councillors, Noelle Chow-Chee and Akeem Peter, along with two members of the contractor, Smart City Solutions and an independent member.
After the by-laws have undergone their round of public scrutiny, the written comments along with the by-laws will be forwarded to Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan for his approval and then be published in the official gazette.
The parking meter project was initially launched in January of 2017, but received high levels of rejection and criticism from the public. The lop-sided contract was contested by drivers and even Councillors of the municipality; this led to the suspension of the by-laws by Central Government.
Following a renegotiation, Smart City Solutions and the M&CC reached a new agreement under the controversial parking meter project, which would now see persons paying $150 per hour and $800 for eight hours of parking in the city. Meanwhile, residents of the city would be issued with a restricted residential pass for free parking from 17:00h-19:00h Monday to Friday while parking would be free on Saturdays.
During the renegotiation, the subject of share profit and contractual obligations were discussed and it was agreed to have them remain the same – 20/80 M&CC-SCS for a period of 20 years. It was also disclosed that in the event of arbitration, the proceedings would be held in Miami despite the jurisdiction being Guyana.
