THE Mayor and City Council, through Town Clerk, Royston King, has officially informed Smart City Solutions (SCS) about government’s suspension of the by-laws governing the meter parking system.

Cabinet on Tuesday night instructed Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, to suspend the by-laws with immediate effect for three months; however despite the suspension SCS still had its clampers out on the streets early Wednesday morning. But after SCS was officially informed by King, SCS employees were re-called.
Minister Bulkan had noted Tuesday night that the new Order is unambiguous and leaves no room for discretion on the part of the City with regard to conformity.
“This is a done deal and on the basis of this new Order, the Council would be clearly advised to inform the company [Smart City Solutions] that paid parking would be suspended. The company would be invited to enter into negotiations and at that stage it would be up to the company to determine what its response to this new action of the Government would be,” he said.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Deputy Mayor, Sherod Duncan, told Guyana Chronicle, “We received the gazetted order today [Wednesday] which stated that the parking meter by-laws are suspended.”
The order was subsequently submitted to SCS, the Mexican company responsible for implementing the project. It was explained to the Guyana Chronicle that during the interim of the suspension, the M&CC will engage SCS and other stakeholders in order to make a conclusive decision on the future of the project.
But Duncan indicated that if SCS believes that the suspension is in breach of the contract, they can take necessary action.
Since its implementation on January 23, 2017, several flaws were identified in the contract, following which two court actions were filed against city Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, the Town Clerk and Minister Bulkan by members of the business community.
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, was also one of the driving forces behind Cabinet’s decision to recommend the suspension of the controversial parking meters project, given the fact that there are severe legal implications.
During a radio programme on 94.1 Boom FM, Minister Patterson made it clear that there are several legal implications that could possibly see his ministry ending up in a legal battle.
According to Patterson, “some three to four weeks ago, a team had met with Council officials following a Cabinet subcommittee meeting on the parking meter issue where several proposals were made to the Council. He said that the body had acted on some proposals while others, including a possible suspension of the parking meter project for broader consultations and a contract review, were ignored.”
Patterson continued that key government ministers felt that it would be best, that the parking meter contract be suspended for a minimum of three months to allow certain issues to be “ironed out.”
He related that among these legal issues is the fact there are “declared urban roads” in the city for which his ministry is responsible. The Minister said that before the implementation of the parking meters, he had cause to write the Council, informing them that they were putting parking meters on roads controlled by the ministry although there was “no agreement” between the Council and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Coupled with Government’s consistent pressure on City Hall, a Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) took to Regent Street in front of City Hall during the first week of February.
The Movement quickly gained traction and soon enough saw almost an entire section of Regent Street between Avenue of the Republic and King Street being filled with a number of protestors. And after braving inclement weather among other things for weeks, the MAPM was finally able to gain satisfaction.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Movement indicated that “we thank the Government of Guyana for demonstrating leadership at a time when the citizens need it most.
“We await the review of the parking meter contract between the M&CC and SCS and expect given the inherent problems associated with the said contract, it will be revoked.”