Imposed parking meter project: US lawyers interview potential witnesses in US$100M claim case

A team of lawyers from the United States-based law firm – Foley Hoag and Associates – were in Guyana last week to interview potential witnesses in the US$100M proceedings filed by Mexican firm, Smart City Solutions (SCS), over the failed parking meter project in Georgetown.
The Guyana Government had announced back in January 2022 that it retained Foley Hoag to defend the country against the case filed by SCS at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) based in Washington DC, US.
While in Guyana, the US lawyers met with Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, on Thursday at the Attorney General’s Chambers on Carmichael Street, Georgetown.
“The lawyers were in Guyana to interview potential witnesses for the legal proceedings. In this regard, many persons who played a relevant role in the transaction were interviewed,” a missive from the AG’s Chamber detailed.
According to Nandlall, the US team will continue to engage the AG Chambers regarding other potential witnesses that they were unable to interview during their visit last week.
Nevertheless, the legal proceedings are continuing before the ICSID, which is an arbitration institution established by the World Bank Group to address legal dispute resolution and conciliation between international investors and States.
Back in 2016, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown, under the then mayorship of Patricia Chase-Green and then Town Clerk Royston King, had entered into a contract with the Mexican company under the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government for the installation of parking meters in the capital city.
However, the roll out of the project had sparked widespread public outcry and massive protest actions in Georgetown, resulting in the project being halted since. As a consequence, SCS is suing the Guyana Government through the ICSID.
In August last year, AG Nandlall had requested supplementary funds for the Legal Affairs Ministry – some of which were to pay legal fees to the US firm to represent Guyana.
Of the GY$100 million approved by the House, $3 million was to be used as a deposit towards legal fees for lawyers representing Guyana.
In defending this payment, Nandlall had told the National Assembly that the law firm “is of very high international standing” and “has a reputational record before tribunals of that type that would be comparable with any other law firm in any part of the world”.
He went on to explain, during a subsequent episode of his weekly programme – Issues in the News, that the record and other evidential material relating to the claim show that the circumstances and the conduct governing the execution of the parking meter project contract by members of the M&CC can attract criminal liability.
“The requisite procedures laid down in the law under the Mayor and City Council Act and regulations and bylaws were clearly not complied with. A few persons, in my humble view, committed fraud upon the Council by entering into this transaction without the requisite endorsements as mandated by law… The Criminal Investigation Department is being activated and a criminal investigation will now be launched into that matter,” he had said.
The parking meters were active in January 2017, but this was met with strong resistance from the then PPP/C Opposition, private sector bodies, and ordinary citizens, who formed an organisation called Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) – which went on to hold some of the largest non-political protests ever seen in the city.
Amid public pressure, the then APNU/AFC Government finally intervened and suspended the bylaws which paved the way for the implementation of metered parking, thus effectively halting the parking meter project. The project has since remained stalled.
Meanwhile, in January 2018, a ‘Parking Meter Renegotiation Committee’ at City Hall proposed a reduction in the parking fee from $500 per hour to $150 per hour.
Three months later, the then City Council approved amendments to the bylaws and had even appeared before the then APNU/AFC coalition Cabinet to discuss the changes to the contract, but the then Government never gave the green light for the project to recommence.
However, a new City Council was elected later that year, and current Mayor Ubraj Narine had told this publication back in April 2019 that he was in no rush to reintroduce the initiative.
Although the contract had already been renegotiated, the Mayor also indicated that he would still need to further renegotiate with the investors before moving to reintroduce the project.
Nevertheless, Nandlall had argued that the parking meter project was entered into by the previous Government due to its incompetence and corrupt practices. He has promised that as long as he is Attorney General, he will ensure that Guyana receives the best legal representation at every forum because citizens “deserve no less”.
Given the serious nature of the lawsuit, the Attorney General has made it clear that the Government will not leave the incompetent Georgetown M&CC to handle the case, because should SCS win, the company can levy on the historic City Hall. (G8)