In light of mounting concerns over the controversial Parking Meters Project, Cabinet has ordered that the
Mayor Patricia Chase Green checking out one of the parking meters in the presence of Councillor Oscar Clarke while on a recent trip to Mexico
contract between the Georgetown Town Council and National Parking Systems (NPS)/Smart City Solutions (SCS) Inc be reviewed by the State.
This was disclosed by Minister of State Joseph Harmon, who told reporters at the post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday that Cabinet was briefed by Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan about the project, which will see solar-powered parking meters being installed along selected streets in Georgetown.
Harmon explained that without overstepping the functions of the Town Council, Cabinet took a decision to have the contract reviewed.
“While Cabinet is committed to honouring its principle of respecting the independence and authority of our Municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), it nonetheless decided that given Georgetown is the capital city and that the decisions made by Town Council will affect all Guyanese who have to coming into the city, a decision was made to have the contract reviewed by the Ministry of Finance and the AG’s (Attorney General’s) Chamber,” the Minister stated.
However, he pointed out that the Georgetown Council is “young” and must be given the opportunity to operate independently and as such, Government will not interfere with its functions.
Nevertheless, the Minister of State pointed out that Cabinet took the decision to review the contract in light of the growing concerns about transparency of the Parking Meters Project. He explained that should any evidence of illegality or any semblance of similarity to the complaints made be detected, then Government will be obligated to take appropriate action. However, he opted not to preempt what those actions will be.
“I would not want to presuppose what course of action we will take, but once we find that there is something illegal or unlawfully, it doesn’t prevent the law enforcement arms of the State, the AG Chamber, the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) to look into it and to give advice to Government and Cabinet as to what course of action it should take,” the Minister stated.
Moreover, Minister Harmon outlined that Government will not be looking into other aspects of the project such as fees.
Since the signing of the contract for the Parking Meters Project, many persons, including Councilors, over the past weeks have raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the deal, which they claim appears to be a shady one aimed at exploiting the local populace.
In fact, Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan had stated that he could not find proper information about the company or any record of it providing parking meter services in any other country.
However, the Guyanese-born Director of NPS and SCS, Kamau Cush, during an interview with Guyana Times over a week ago, had insisted that his companies are legitimate and have been doing business on the international scene for a number of years. He claimed that his companies have worked in Panama, Argentina, Peru and Mexico City among others; however, checks by this publication in these locations turned up empty as there is no mention of either company.
Further checks on search engine www.whois.net revealed that the NPS’s website (http://npsgreatcities.com/) was registered on April 8, 2016 through www.godaddy.com – a website hosting company in the US. This was about the same time fresh discussions about the installation of parking meters in Georgetown surfaced.
On the other hand, following a visit to Mexico City, Mexico, and Panama last week, Mayor Patricia Chase Green on Monday announced that the Council will be going ahead with the project as they are satisfied after observing the services the company is offering in the two Central American cities.
The Mayor even went on to address the accusations against the company, saying that such reckless statements serves only to frustrate the progress of Georgetown.
“It is my strong view that there is a group of individuals who wished to snatched this project and all of its benefits from this Council and citizens for their own private enterprise and personal gains… this will not happen under my watch,” Chase Green posited.
