CHAIRMAN of the renegotiating team for the parking meter project, Mr. Malcolm Ferreira, has said that the committee is not providing any updates on the project at the moment because the matter is one that cannot be rushed.
He told the Guyana Chronicle at last week’s statutory meeting that a press statement would have been out on the latest developments by May 10, but as of yesterday, Ferreira said that he cannot make any pronouncements just like that because he is part of a committee.
Neither did he take kindly to the criticisms levelled at the committee in some quarters for their refusal to provide any information on the new developments; all he was prepared to say was that remarks given in a rush are always twisted by the media.
Meanwhile, another city councillor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said when he approached one member of the renegotiating team for an update, he was told that the members were “sworn to secrecy.”
It is not clear why the negotiating team wants to keep the matter out of the media, especially since Town Clerk, Royston King, invited Ferreira to provide an update at the last statutory meeting, if he wished. Ferreira had at the time declined, and said he’d much rather issue a press release instead.
Communities Minister, Ronald Bulkan, had communicated Cabinet’s decision for a 90-day suspension of the metered parking system, but the Town Clerk had opted to go after legal advice to challenge the minister’s order, resulting in a majority vote by city councillors to put such an order on hold.
Minister Bulkan was subsequently directed by Cabinet to immediately suspend the operation of the by-laws, which govern the project.
The City Council thereafter approved a seven-member team to negotiate a revised parking meter contract with Smart City Solutions, the company to which City Hall granted the concession to install meters in the city.
Councillor Malcolm Ferreira was elected Chairman of the team that comprises Councillors Noelle Chow-Chee, Carlyle Goring, Tricia Richards, Ivelaw Henry, Roopnarine Persaud and Heston Bostwick.