Booting and other penalty aspects of metered parking in Georgetown have been suspended as a new rate structure is being developed, government announced yesterday, while the Mayor issued an invite to the group that organised protests against the meters for talks.
At a post-Cabinet press briefing, Minister of State Joseph Harmon yesterday announced the suspension, which he said came as a result of central government intervention at a meeting on Wednesday with Mayor Patricia Chase-Green. Clamping of vehicles which were in violation of metered parking has incensed members of the public since the launch of the system on January 23rd. Booting costs $8,000 plus VAT of 14%. The parking fee of $50 per 15 minutes plus VAT has been widely criticised as too expensive.
Contractor Smart City Solutions’ Public Relations Consultant Kit Nascimento explained to Stabroek News yesterday that the Mexican parking meter company and the
Mayor and City Council “plan to announce a new rate structure next week, and have agreed that until such time as the new rate structure is announced, that there will be a moratorium in respect of immobilisation enforcement activities.”
Harmon said that the suspension would allow City Hall to complete several post-implementation consultations and find “an acceptable outcome” to the standoff that has developed between the residents and the city administration and which has resulted in parking spaces being boycotted.
He further explained that at a meeting with President David Granger on Wednesday at State House, the City Council was asked to have a fresh look at the implementation of the parking meter system to ensure it has wider consultations with stakeholders and in the process of doing so, examine some of the recommendations which are now being made by persons who had not previously made them and to ensure these are taken on board.
According to Harmon, the metered parking project had been the subject of extensive discussion on Tuesday at Cabinet, which took the decision that the city council is an independent body whose work they must not be seen to be interfering with.
He noted that President Granger, however, felt it necessary to call a meeting with city officials, considering the strategic importance of the capital city and the uproar from the citizens.
“We wanted to give the nation the assurance that we will not take lightly any issue that affects a large number of Guyanese,” Harmon said.
The parking meter project had attracted major controversy for months but neither the government nor the city showed an inclination to budge until the mass boycott and protests began last month.
Mayor Chase-Green, in confirming the suspension of booting and other sanctions for non-compliance, maintained that persons will still be expected to pay for parking.
She said that the suspension of sanctions began on Thursday and will continue until consultations are completed. A time frame is to be provided at a later date.
She also extended an invitation to the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM), which staged protests on Thursday and the preceding Friday, to meet with the council on Monday at 10 am so that their concerns can be addressed. MAPM wants the entire project rescinded and has been pressing for the release of the contract which has never been made available to the public and which contains a number of controversial provisions.
Meetings, the mayor said, have already been held with the Bank of Guyana and several religious organisations and others are scheduled to be held with commercial banks in the new week.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday repeated his call for the project to be completely discarded.
In a statement, Jagdeo expressed full solidarity and support for the protest against the imposition of the project, which he said lacks transparency and causes additional burden to people.
According to the former president, the promised reduction in fees associated with parking “will be merely palliative and does not in any way address the transparency issue or ease the burden on our citizens who are already overwhelmed with excessive increases in almost 200 new taxes, fees and VATABLE items in less than two (2) years of the APNU+AFC government.’’
He further decried what he said was the duplicitous positions and complicit role of the Granger government on this matter.
He challenged the ruling administration’s assertion that the project was implemented by an independent authority.
“They started out by disowning the project claiming local government autonomy but Minister Bulkan has signed By-laws into effect.
The government sought to mislead and deceive Guyanese by claiming Cabinet and the Attorney-General had not approved the bylaws. If that is true, then the President should sanction Minister Bulkan.
However there is grave suspicion about this being a concoction to obfuscate the matter.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that the parking meter project could not have been implemented without the signing of those By-laws,’’ Jagdeo argued.
Minister Bulkan has maintained that the administration’s respect for the autonomy of Local Government Authorities would not allow him to refuse to sign a by-law passed by a constitutionally-elected body and approved by the Attorney General.
Jagdeo’s statement further argued that from all indications, the Granger government supported the project from its inception and throughout while the APNU+AFC dominated Georgetown Mayor & City Council was emboldened by the support.
The Opposition Leader said he remains supportive of the civil society protest and that nothing short of scrapping the parking meter project will suffice.
