Director of National Parking Systems and Smart City Solutions (SCS), Ifa Kamau Cush yesterday confirmed to Stabroek News that the parking meter contract signed between his company and the Georgetown Municipality is for 49 years.
When questioned about the terms of the almost five-decades contract, Cush said this newspaper would have to ask the Town Clerk. Currently, the parking meter contract is at the Attorney General’s Chambers being reviewed. The contract has been championed by City Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Town Clerk Royston King.
In an advertisement appearing in the Sunday Stabroek yesterday, SCS stated that the parking meter fee would be approximately $250 per hour. Cush yesterday said that this is the final decision on the toll.
The ad also noted that the city council would collect 20% of the parking meters revenue while the government would receive 16% in revenue.
This is the first time it has been stated that the government will be getting 16% of the revenue. It is unclear whether a separate agreement has been signed with the government as this cannot be covered under the contract with the city.
The advertisement reiterated that SCS manages over twenty thousand parking spaces in Mexico, Peru and Panama and has been around for over five years.
The project has been widely criticised over its lack of consultation, secrecy and cost to consumers. The publicly outcry eventually led to the government announcing a review of the contract while stressing it had no intention of interfering in the city’s business.
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran is among those who have called for the city council to rescind the deal.
In his Accountability Watch column in Stabroek News, he had pointed out that in accordance with Section 231 of the Municipal and District Councils Act, before entering into any contract for the execution of any work or the supply of any goods to the value of $250,000, or more, the council is required to give notice of such proposed contract and “shall by such notice invite any person willing to undertake the same to submit a sealed tender thereof to the council…”
This transgression could provide the basis for a ruling that the present contract is ultra vires.
Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan has also questioned why the contract, signed by Town Clerk King, was not made available for review by the entire council.
He along with other councillors had asked to see the contract at a statutory meeting but it was never presented.
Chase-Green has since said the contract is the “private document of the administration” and it will not be made public until the project is well into the implementation stages.
President David Granger had said he believed that the then proposed rate of $500 per hour for paid parking in the city was “burdensome.”
With the introduction of the parking meters, the city administration hopes that it would ease its financial burden. September 1st was announced as the date from which the meters would be introduced.
Currently, Smart City Solutions is conducting demonstrations around the city with a pilot machine.
