— face-to-face renegotiations to commence in two weeks

SMART City Solutions (SCS), the foreign company which has been given approval to install parking meters in Georgetown, is now ready to produce the financial documents that the company once refused to release, to the new renegotiating committee.

Chairman of the new committee, Councillor Akeem Peter, told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday that senior officials of the company are currently out of the jurisdiction, and have committed to releasing the documents when they return.

They are expected to return in two weeks.

“They will be delivering the documents in 14 days’ time so that we can start face- to-face negotiations across the table,” Peter informed.

The committee has completed its internal review of the contract after two members of the public were chosen to seal the nine-man team that will renegotiate with SCS.

Owen Godfrey Edwards, a civil engineer, and Robin Hunte, an accountant and lawyer, were chosen over the two other names that were proposed, these being MBA doctoral student, Joseph Eastman and retired schoolteacher, Pamela Arthur.

Thirteen of 25 city councillors had voted in favour of setting up a new committee, consisting of members of the public this time around, to start a fresh process of negotiation with SCS.

Apart from Peter, who was selected Chairman, another APNU Councillor Noelle Chow-Chee was named Vice-Chairman. The other members are councillors Oscar Clarke, Jameel Rasul, James Samuels, Heston Bostwick and Ivor Henry.

Town Clerk, Royston King and City Treasurer, Ron Mc Calman will serve in an advisory capacity.

People’s Progressive Party (PPP)’s Bishram Kuppen, who is opposed to King’s sitting on the committee for fear he would influence the direction that it takes, was chosen to sit on the new team by Councillor Bostwick, but he declined the nomination.

SUITABLE DEAL
In an invited comment, Peter had told Guyana Chronicle that the new committee will be working to achieve “the most possible and suitable deal” for the citizens of Georgetown.

“One of the first things I would be doing is asking for much more external helpers as it relates to the accounting systems. Numbers would play a great role,” he said, adding that the working income of most of the workers in Georgetown and the affordability of parking meters on the ‘normal’ person will have to be taken into account.

“We will bring the human face back to the issue, because we understood that it wasn’t really about parking meters, but it was about the contract. We want to help people understand the process,” Peter explained.

He said, too, that along with a reduction in the cost to park, the team will also be looking at the spaces that were offered to SCS, such as those in front of schools.

“Even though we began on a wrong foot, I view this as an opportunity now for us to realign ourselves along the right path, and get a human face to parking meters. The submission of documents is not an option; it’s a necessity, a must-do. Once those are submitted, I see us moving forward,” he said.

The contract the M&CC entered into with SCS came under heavy criticism from some City councillors, who called for a complete revocation of it, while others suggested waiting on the outcome of a court case that has a bearing on the matter.

Deputy Mayor, Lionel Jaikarran had said the project lacked transparency from the beginning, was not open to public scrutiny, and should be shelved immediately.

Alliance for Change (AFC) Councillor, Sherod Duncan, along with PPP Councillors Kuppen and Khame Sharma, also called for the complete revocation of the contract.