SMART City Solutions (SCS) has now agreed to re-programme its parking meters in Georgetown to accommodate payment for time instead of for space.

“So you can park for five minutes here and then drive up the road and park for another five minutes; once you have time on the card. So it works like a prepaid system now and the rates have been adjusted,” chairman of the re-negotiating committee Akeem Peter told the Chronicle on Monday.

“We cornered them (SCS) to a wall as it relates to the prices. We did not want to go too low, because we still want it to be a deterrent and a means of traffic management. So we will keep it at a middle figure,” he explained.
Peter declined to state the new prices that have been agreed between the City Council and SCS and noted that they will be made public shortly.

Explaining why the committee pushed for paying of time instead of for space, Peter said: “That was one of the things high on my list of priorities. This will benefit the citizens more than the concessionaire (SCS). So instead of burdening the citizens by paying for space where you could pay for 15 minutes but spend only five, and your 15 minutes go down the drain; it gives you more time for your money.”

Meanwhile, Peter maintained that the City Council is bounded by the contract with SCS until such time as the court makes a decision.
“We do not have the authority to determine the legality of the contract. That is the responsibility of the courts. But until the court rules, we also have a responsibility to the contract because we have signed it. So as a partner to that contract, we chose to negotiate based on those grounds.”

CONCERNS VALID
Peter said the concerns by the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) are valid, but only not to the City Council. “It’s a valid concern to the courts, so until it rules, that is when we can say it’s an illegal contract. Until then, it is a binding contract.”
MAPM, however, said in a statement earlier this month that it stands ready to return to the streets to protest the illegal contract.

The movement said while it is unopposed to a structured system for traffic regulation within the central areas of the city, including measures to facilitate the orderly parking of vehicles and the need for the M&CC to increase their revenue base, it is against the current agreement with SCS.

“We therefore stand ready to mobilise our supporters to resume our street protests and exercise any and all options available to us to prevent this abomination from moving forward,” the statement said.

It sought to highlight once more the numerous irregularities and discrepancies in the contract between SCS and the M&CC and thus related, “The MAPM will not compromise on its position that the contract between the City Council and SCS suffers from a number of procedural and other deficiencies and may be deemed illegal due to breaches of various laws.”

UMBRAGE
The movement takes umbrage at the announcement of possible resumption of the contract with SCS despite scores of Guyanese relentlessly highlighting the numerous deficiencies in the process of selecting and engaging Smart City Solutions as the provider of parking meter services in Georgetown.

Furthermore, it said: “The 13 councillors who voted to renegotiate this corrupt contract have demonstrated their laxity for transparency and due process,” and highlighted that the five members of the renegotiating committee of this corrupt contract were some of the same aforementioned 13 who allegedly have no regard for impartiality.

Also, MAPM said it “speaks volumes” that there is the renegotiating of a project that lacks a public feasibility study and cost analysis seeking to perhaps resume the project. The study and analysis were pertinent features requested time and time again by the public; it was even highlighted in the chairman of the former renegotiating committee Malcolm Ferreira’s report.

“MAPM is not prepared to support, neither allow the successful renegotiation of this corrupt contract or the resumption of the parking meter system in Georgetown by SCS, regardless of the minimal cost attached,” the release said.

The Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan was also called on to not release the suspension of the parking meter by-laws.