New company to get parking meter contract –as City Hall ignores existing contract it has with another
Georgetown Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green
Georgetown Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green

THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has officially announced that it is giving the ‘parking contract’ to a company called National Parking Systems, although it had given overseas-based Guyanese Saratu Phillips an exclusive contract back in 2007.At the Council’s fortnightly statutory meeting at City Hall on Monday, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green made the announcement, prompting Councillor Bishram Kuppen to question if that contract was not already being held by someone.

The Mayor responded that, through the Administration, Town Clerk Royston King is dealing with this issue.

In an invited comment to this newspaper, Chase-Green did not deny knowledge of the existence of the M&CC contract with Phillips, but said she had no recent engagements with him. She said she did not wish to comment on the issue, and that King would be dealing with it.

Saratu Phillips, Chief Executive Officer of Astrolobe Technology Incorporated, visited this newspaper a few days ago after seeing an article in the Chronicle that City Hall is finalising arrangements to implement a parking meter system. A baffled Phillips told this publication: “The issue that first jumped out at me is that I have an exclusive contract already to do parking with the M&CC, and they are dealing with a new company as if I no longer exist.”

Phillips, who came to Guyana in 2006, has put together a team of information technology professionals who are looking at transferring other technologies from the United States to Guyana. “We initiated a few projects that didn’t work out. The last project we jumped on is how we could set up a structured parking system,” he explained.

25-YEAR CONTRACT

Phillips said his team worked with the City Council from December 2006 until October 2007, when he obtained an exclusive 25-year contract from the municipality to design the parking system. He, however, decided that he would not start works until the City Council amended some of its by-laws.

“Back and forth we were debating the by-laws, and I eventually decided that I would pay to get them done in 2008. After I submitted the by-laws, the issue arose that the Government was not giving them the go-ahead to raise funds on their own. We were then stuck at this point,” Phillips explained.

Phillips explained that the understanding he had with the City Council was that his contract remained valid, and would continue as soon as permission was granted.

After the general elections in 2015, Phillips said, he began engaging Town Clerk Royston King, who said that as soon as he got into office, work would commence on the project.

“In November 2015, someone from the media called me and told me that the contract was being handed to someone else, who has political connections. I am shocked. The name of the person they are giving the contract to is (named). I told (that person) I have this contract and that we would have years of litigation, and that nothing is going to happen.

“Why go after something that I already have? He bluntly told me I am a small fish and that he has lots of political and judicial connections in this country, and that he is going to get this. His business partner or his consultant here is (named). I emailed (the named person) every piece of paper work that I have on parking, and I told him that I have this contract.”

Phillips is hoping that good sense will prevail and that the M&CC would acknowledge that what it is doing is wrong.

“I have invested a lot of time and money in relation to parking. I have some lawyers, and whatever they advise I will do. This (is akin to) corruption and nepotism,” he said.

NEEDED PARKING SYSTEM

The parking system to be developed in Georgetown includes a meter system that is expected to deter motorists, especially taxi drivers, from parking in spaces that store owners reserve for customers.

The M&CC is not inclined to raise the sums for rates and taxes, because the entity is already facing difficulty in having citizens come forward to pay. The municipality is therefore looking at other ways to rake in more revenue, and the parking meter system is being considered.

At a recent meeting with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), the issue of parking was the number one issue raised with the City Council.

Representatives of Durga Business Enterprise, Scotia Bank, Global Seafood Distribution, Eureka Laboratory, and Silvie’s Variety Store were also present at that City Hall meeting.

The meeting heard how customers have to park corners away from business establishments they wish to visit in order to do business.

In the case of Scotia Bank, there is always a hassle to remove certain unauthorised vehicles; and, on occasion, the police have had to be summoned.

 

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