Although the parking meter project came under fire from all ends, the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) is moving ahead with its implementation, with the first phase set to be completed in December.
A demonstration of how the parking meter works at the Marriot Hotel on Friday
Not only will private citizens be forced to pay the charge, they will have to endure paying Value Added Tax (VAT) on it until the City can have it removed. On Friday, Smart City Solutions’ Director, Amir Oren said that the implementation would be divided into two phases. He stated that the first phase of the parking meter project will occupy 3237 parking spaces in Georgetown, utilising 157 parking meters.
These machines will be positioned close to all the commercial hubs in Georgetown. The meters, intended to regulated traffic, will be situated along Quamina Street, Water Street, Hadfield Street, Camp Street, Church Street, North Road, Robb Street, Regent Street, Charlotte Street, South Road, Croal Street, Brickdam, Avenue of the Republic, Wellington Street and King Street.
Oren added that the second phase of the project would be completed in three months after the first phase, and would cover 4000 spaces and utilise 163 parking meters. The locations for the meters in the second phase were not divulged to the public.
From its genesis, the parking meter project was rejected by citizens and the Private Sector. However, the “shady” contract was endorsed by the Government, which stated that no illegalities were found, and so the project was given the “go-ahead”.
At that time, the project was being spearheaded by Ifa Kamau Cush, who was named the Director of Smart City Solutions. However, just a few weeks ago, the company’s Public Relations Officer, Kit Nascimento stated that Cush was only a shareholder of the company and was no longer operational.
Commuters will be charged $50 plus VAT each 15 minutes; this will also be mandatory to public transportation, until preparations are made for alternative parking spaces. Nascimento stated that the company was presently in the process of applying for tax exemptions for the citizens of Georgetown, so that they would not be required to pay VAT on their purchase of parking time.
The Public Relations Officer disclosed that the parking meters would be operational from 07:00h to 19:00h Mondays to Saturdays. However, parking is free any time before 07:00h and 20:00h, on Sundays and holidays.
One commuter, Orin Benjamin, stated that the city of Georgetown was too small to accommodate something of that magnitude.
“It is shame because our country is not ready for that sort of service. The city is too small…this is just putting pressure on the poor people. Let’s say I’m working in town and I have a car, how could I pay for parking whole day? That’s eight hours and maybe more. What they are doing is forcing companies to create parking lots for their employees. This will reduce business also,” he said.
Benjamin also stated that while it was a good initiative, the timing is bad. “We don’t have the economy to support it,” he said.
One businessman considered the implementation of the parking meters to be ridiculous. “There are other ways the Government or the City can gain money. We don’t need parking meters to maintain traffic or generate funds,” he said disgustedly. “Most people cannot afford to drive. I would ride to Georgetown when the traffic is heavy, so I don’t know why they are doing this if the population is already scraping to get one car. What they need to do is look at the disposable income for the population— which is practically dead right now,” the businessman said.
“This is only going stress people out; we already have them city Police creating problems at the bus parks, now we have to pay money with VAT just to park? We not ready for that. If they are going to start the parking meter system in December, then we are gonna have a merry VAT parking meter Christmas,” another man said.
One woman said once the parking meter project was implemented she would revert to catching public transportation. “…that’s another bill onto my monthly expenses. I cannot park for eight hours. Just the thought of paying money makes me say no,” Amrita Rivas said.
