Controversial Parking Meter Project… Profit sharing agreement high on agenda for M&CC renegotiation team

Dec 12, 2017 News

The Georgetown Mayor and City Council Parking meter renegotiation team appears to have its work cut out.
In the next few weeks, some 13 councillors attached to City Hall will be finalising new terms and conditions of the controversial contract entered into between the M&CC and overseas-based parking meter concessionaire, Smart City Solutions, (SCS).
The committee was set up to start a fresh process of negotiation with SCS after the council came under condemnation from civil society.
The issue has attracted a notable amount of public protest and legal drama with some members of society calling the contract illegal. But as they await the decision of the Court, City Hall has moved forward with a process to renegotiate the agreement.
At present, the M&CC renegotiation committee is headed by councillor, Akeem Peters who told the council at a statutory meeting yesterday that the team is deliberating and finalising new measures under which the contract should operate.
Councillor Peters declined to divulge information about the process at this juncture. Kaieteur News nonetheless understands that a number of issues are at the top of the agenda for the renegotiation team.
Among those issues is the profit sharing agreement between the Georgetown M&CC and the parking meter concessionaire. Under the previous agreement, the City Hall was set to receive 20 percent of the profits while SCS took 80 percent.
This newspaper learnt that the 80/20 agreement is expected to change.
A number of other issues are under consideration of the committee, including the parking meter fees, which were recently slashed from $500 to $150 per hour and the list of vehicles that will be exempted from parking fees.
Meanwhile, the Movement against Parking Meters (MAPM) has reiterated its position as it relates to the agreement between the Council and SCS. In a recent statement to the press, the MAPM expressed outrage against what it described as the continued underhanded efforts by officials at the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown to forge ahead to foist this corrupt contract on the Guyanese citizenry.
The movement and its other stakeholders have highlighted the numerous deficiencies in the process of selecting and engaging SCS as the provider of parking meter services in Georgetown.
The body stressed too that the 13 councillors who voted to renegotiate the corrupt contract have demonstrated their laxity for transparency and due process.
Emphasising their position, the MAPM noted that while it is not against a structured system for traffic regulation within the central areas of the city, it 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.
“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. We also call on the Minister of Communities not to release the suspension of the parking meter bylaws. “

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