Nothing illegal in parking meter contract – Harmon

− AG recommends accountant to set fees

The controversial Parking Meter Project is set to commence implementation in September as Government said on Thursday that nothing illegal was found in the contract signed with Smart City Solutions Inc, the company contracted for the project.

Government had ordered a review of the contract between Smart City Solutions and the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) following mounted concerns about transparency of the Parking Meter Project. The review was conducted by Finance Minister Winston Jordan and Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams.

Speaking at the post Cabinet briefing on Thursday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon noted the review ordered by Cabinet churned up nothing illegal in the contract.

“The sum total of the finding was that (a) there was nothing illegal about the contract and (b) it appeared that from a review of the documents that the terms and conditions of the contract was onerous and heavily in favour of the concessionaire,” he stated.

However, the Minister of State noted that recommendations were made to ensure that the people of Guyana are not fleeced.

“The recommendation of the Minister of Legal Affairs is that an accountant be engaged by the Council to review this contract in so far as the fees are concerned and advise it,” Harmon further disclosed.

According to the Minister, these recommendations were passed on to the Georgetown Town Council by Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan. He added that Cabinet did not set a deadline for the Minister to report back on progress of the recommendation but noted that Bulkan was given full scope to deal with the matter and the Georgetown Council as well.

Since the signing of the contract back in June for the implementation of parking meters throughout Georgetown, many persons have raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the deal, with persons saying it appears to be a shady one aimed at exploiting the local populace.

Despite this, Smart City Solutions Inc had gone ahead with the project, conducting demonstration exercises on how the parking meter works throughout the city. Persons were also seen conducting assessments on various streets in the city. However, Kamau Cush, who owns the company implementing the project, had maintained that the project is a legitimate one. In fact, he told reporters back in June that he was not bothered by the review being conducted by Government since it is intended to detect any illegality, assuring that nothing of the sort would be found. “There is no fleecing going on… We have everything to lose, we will be responsible for all the overhead, for the software, for the hardware everything. The City of Georgetown and Central Government will have no financial responsibility in the installation or the operation of the project,” he had stated.

Furthermore, United States-based Guyanese businessman disclosed that the contract was actually signed between the Town Council and Smart City Solutions, and not National Parking Systems (NPS) as previously stated. He added too that when the joint venture between the two companies was formed, NPS was absorbed into Smart City Solutions, which he now claims is owned by Mexican Company – Operadora deEstacionamientosBicentenario, S A de C V. “Smart City Solutions is a subsidiary of Operadora deEstacionamientosBicentenario, this is the parent company that is headquartered in Mexico City… NPS is no longer an entity that’s operating this parking system. The City of Georgetown signed a contract with Smart City Solutions. NPS is a shareholder in Smart City Solutions; Smart City Solutions is a subsidiary of Operadora deEstacionamientosBicentenario, which is based in Mexico,” Cush had related to media operatives. This new information surfaced in light of mounting concerns over the authenticity of the two initial companies – NPS and Smart City Solutions.