– to provide recommendation to Cabinet

A COURT decision in the New Building Society’s (NBS) matter challenging the legality of the parking meter contract is imminent, and should the ruling be against the City Council, the Government is not prepared to show any further consideration to the controversial project.
Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan made the disclosure during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle recently.

Cabinet has so far discussed the request by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to peruse the new set of by-laws that was forwarded to the ministry for Minister Bulkan’s signature.
According to the minister, Cabinet subsequently made a decision to establish a sub-committee comprising the Ministries of Communities, Finance, Public Infrastructure, Business, and Legal Affairs to look at the by-laws.

The committee is tasked with discussing the concerns raised by central government, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (GCCI) and other agencies, and then to bring a recommendation back to Cabinet. No timeframe for coming up with a recommendation was fixed.

Meanwhile, Town Clerk Royston King a few days ago told this publication, that the M&CC is “very optimistic and hoping for the best” regarding the way forward with the parking meter project.

“It is a project that is clearly needed on our streets,” he said, as he noted that the M&CC is not even entertaining the thought that the new set of by-laws will be rejected. “We’re not thinking that; we remain very optimistic.”

King maintained that the new rate, being $150 per hour VAT inclusive is reasonable, and noted that the figures cannot be set too low so that nothing will change regarding the traffic congestion on the streets.

The significant drop in the fee from $500 per hour was among agreements reached with Smart City Solutions – the foreign company given the concession to install parking meters in Georgetown – based on recommendations proposed by a special committee and approved by the Council.

In the final report submitted by the Parking Meter Renegotiation Committee (PMRC) and chaired by now Deputy Mayor Akeem Peter, it was explained that following the abrupt end of the project which was initiated in May 2016 by way of a contractual agreement, a special committee convened by the council made four recommendations but only one group of recommendations was approved. That committee was led by Councillor Malcolm Ferreira.
While that special committee recommended that the metered parking system with Smart City Solutions be continued, it did not make any recommendation for the continuance of the contract in its original form.

The PMRC was then formed and tasked with renegotiating the contract based on the single group of recommendations.

According to the final report, the renegotiation committee held 15 meetings of which three were exclusive negotiations. Based on those negotiations, the committee and Smart City Solutions agreed to modify 13 aspects of the contract, including the reduction of the parking fee and the introduction of an oversight body.

“The new fee structure is $150.00 per hour VAT inclusive and $800.00 for eight hours VAT inclusive,” the committee stated in its report. It was also agreed that drivers pay for time instead of space, thus allowing them to move from location to location until the time paid for is exhausted. This will allow for transferability of time from meter to meter.

It was also agreed that at the recommencement of the project, there will be no immediate booting for the first three months, however, once that period has elapsed failure to pay parking fees for up to three violations will result in booting, towing, and if necessary the sale of the vehicle after 60 days of storage.

Additionally, the parties have agreed to have vehicles registered under the Central and Local Governments included in the exempt vehicles. In the case of residents, passes will be issued. “It was agreed that a Residential PASS will be issued for parking from 5pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday and Saturday will be free all day. However, a nominal fee will apply and the Residential PASS is restricted to the vicinity in which the resident resides,” the committee explained.