As Guyanese continue to protest against and boycott the controversial parking meters in Georgetown, the Mayor and City Council has announced that it has received its first installment of profits from the project.
According to the City Council in a statement on Wednesday, it has collected its 20 per cent takings from the gross earnings from Smart City Solutions; the company contracted to carry out the Parking Meter Project and handles all of the expenses relating to the initiative. However, it did not disclose the value of the 20 per cent.
Citizens protesting parking meters in the city
The M&CC noted that the money from the parking meter initiative has been earmarked for certain civil works, including upgrading existing Council roads and constructing new ones, developing sidewalks and pavements for pedestrians, clean and sustain drains and canals related to roads, bridges and foot paths and the implementation of a city transport system particularly for children and senior citizens.
The Council added that the money is needed to enhance the Council’s very narrow revenue base to provide a wide range of vital municipal services to local communities and the city as a whole.
The Georgetown municipality stated that since the establishment of the paid parking system, more motorists are now using the parking meters, particularly in very busy areas of the central business district of the city.
The pronouncement of more parking meter users comes in light of widespread boycott of the project, with many drivers continuing to park outside of the metered zones. This is despite a series of concessions on the parking fees that were announced some two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the ongoing protest action against the project continues almost weekly in front of the City Hall calling for it to be scrapped. At last week’s protest, the participants wore mostly sombre colours to signify what they described as a “dying capital city”, since businesses continue to see reduced sales since the introduction of metered parking in January.
In addition to several officials calling for the project to be scrapped, several organisations have also jointed the calls including the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and more recently, the Alliance For Change (AFC), which is the minority party in the coalition Government.
Meanwhile, British High Commissioner Greg Quinn, commenting on the issue recently, told Guyana Times that the peaceful protests which greeted the implementation of parking meters in Georgetown were demonstrative of Guyana’s strong sense of democracy.
In fact, Guyanese disapproval of the initiative is such that at least two court actions have been filed; one by citizens and the other by a commercial bank, challenging the implementation of the project. Both matters are currently engaging the High Court’s attention.
