City officials announce 50% reduction

Parking meter burden

− as citizens call for complete revocation

Even as the public outcry against the implementation of parking meters continues, City Hall officials have announced a 50 per cent reduction in the parking fees.

This announcement was made on Tuesday, during a meeting with City officials including the Town Clerk Royston King, City Mayor Patricia Chase- Green and representatives from the various commercial banks, including Republic Bank, Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) and Demerara Bank.

Mayor Chase-Green explained that the reduction would mean that persons will now pay $25 per 15 minutes of parking, along with 14 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT). This totals to $100 an hour, tax exclusive.

In addition, motor vehicle owners will also now be able to utilise unused time remaining on their cards at other parking spaces in the city.

With regards to the arrangement for employees at the various commercial banks, the Mayor said these individuals will now be allowed to utilise their respective company’s parking lots; the banks will be required to submit the relevant information to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC). This means that they will also be facilitated with monthly parking permits at a lesser rate, Green added.

Moreover, the Town Clerk emphasised that conditions with regards to clamping and booting fees will also be revised.

The manner in which the Parking Meter Contract, signed in November 2015, was arranged with National Parking Solutions Inc (SCSI) has attracted heavy scrutiny in the press and has sparked public outrage.

The situation worsened when Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase Green, Town Clerk Royston King and City Councillors Oscar Clark and Junior Garrett left on a trip to Mexico to inspect the product – seven months after the agreement was inked.

Subsequently, the Finance Ministry and the Attorney General’s Chambers conducted reviews of the contract to determine its practicality and legality. In its reviews, the glaring absence of any financial analysis or feasibility study by the M&CC had been noted. One of the observations of the Finance Ministry had been that “the contract has given complete monopoly power to SCSI over parking within Georgetown. This control could lead to exploitation of consumers as SCSI has the power to change fees arbitrarily and determine zones.”

The fees amount to at least $200 an hour. The minimum time a motorist can purchase is 15 minutes. The meters work by the user inputting the number on their parking space, the time they need and then presenting a prepaid card, which they would have purchased, to a card reader on the meters. At the time, the Mayor and Town Clerk had contended that the initiative will assist in easing congestion in the city, while generating income to push for a greener economy.

Over the past few weeks, citizens and business owners have taken to the streets in protest against the “draconian” costs and penalties and their calls have intensified after the provisions in the Parking Meter Contract between City Hall and Smart City Solutions were made public. As such, many persons are still calling for the contract to be scrapped and are refusing to accept the recently announced rate reduction.