PUNITIVE measures instituted to govern paid parking in the city have been suspended until the end of an ongoing round of consultations being spearheaded by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC). 

This was first announced by Minister of State Joseph Harmon and subsequently confirmed by city Mayor Patricia Chase-Green on Friday.

Harmon, at a post-Cabinet press briefing, said one of the steps the City Council will take at this time, in response to the widespread rejection of paid parking in the city, is to suspend punitive aspects of the parking meter project, which involves booting.

Vehicles are booted if the driver fails to pay for parking while utilising a parking spot, or if a vehicle remains on a parking spot after the time paid for has expired.

“I believe they have indicated that it will be suspended and that they will engage stakeholders to see how best the project can be adjusted,” Harmon told reporters.

This was subsequently confirmed by Mayor Chase-Green, who said that the suspension of this penalty will be upheld until the end of an ongoing round of consultations.

“Booting will be suspended until we do some more consultation with the general public. We are not applying sanctions for non-compliance, which essentially is booting. This started since yesterday [Thursday],” the mayor said.

To arrive at a workable solution to deal with the current rejection of the project, she noted that consultations are being held, pointing to several meetings between the Council and other stakeholders, including the Bank of Guyana and some religious organisations.

Another meeting between the Council and all commercial banks is expected today.
The mayor noted too that the anti-parking meter group, ‘Movement Against Parking Meters’ (MAPM), has also been invited to a meeting on Monday and will be able to examine the contract for the parking meter project and the by-laws.

The contract to manage and operate the metered parking system in the city was awarded to Smart City Solutions (SCS) by the M&CC.

COMMON GROUND

“They [MAPM] can hear all of our proposals that we have put forward to the agencies we’ve met with, so that we can move forward. I hope that at the end of the day, we can all bind hands together and move this project and this city forward,” Mayor Chase-Green stated.

MAPM has been able to mobilise thousands of Guyanese to protest what they described as an “imposition” on the Guyanese people. The group is calling for the contract to be revoked, since it did not go to tender which translates to a breach in procurement laws.
MAPM’s latest public demonstration was on Thursday, when more than 1000 persons, armed with their placards, gathered on Regent Street to express their objections to the project.

While the movement has been calling for a revocation of the contract, some activists have been calling for a reduction in the rates being charged. The current rate is $58 (VAT inclusive) for 15 minutes of parking.

Agreeing that this cost is too “burdensome” was President David Granger, who also expressed this view on Friday during his weekly television show, ‘The Public Interest.’

“We do believe that [the cost] is burdensome… we believe the rates are high [and] we believe certain categories of workers should have been exempt,” the President said.

NOT SATISFIED
Not limited to just rates, he added that the Government is not satisfied with the general provisions of the project.

As a result, he noted that when the Government engaged the municipality earlier this week, it requested the local government body to have another look at the project and to engage civil society and the business community in another round of consultations.

Defending the need for this revenue stream, as was articulated by the M&CC, President Granger said that it is indeed a fact that the city is in need of revenue; revenue which the paid parking system could provide.

M&CC will receive 20 per cent of all revenues generated from paid-parking in the city, while SCS will receive the other 80 per cent.

“The city, unfortunately, is short of revenue. The city boundaries were extended a few years ago and there is not enough money to run the affairs of the city. So the Council needs to get money through taxation. So Government regards parking meters as a legitimate means of raising revenue to run the affairs of the city,” the President reasoned.

He also supported the second point of justification, made by the Council, which is that there is some degree of congestion in the city due as it is the country’s capital. Having the meters, the President said, would help to reduce the congestion and provide for a more organised parking system.

He was keen to note also, that the Government is not against the notion of a parking meter project, but that it felt that there was need for more consultations, more communication and arrival at a more consensual solution.

To this end, he said central Government will not direct the affairs of the duly elected Council, or recommend which direction it should go in relation to the project.
He offered rather, that a solution should be arrived at by the M&CC after they would have fully consulted with all stakeholders and arrived at a consensual solution.

“Government will not impose a solution. That solution will come out of engagement between civil society and the municipality,” the President said.