Dear Editor,
The Parking Meter Contract was executed without widespread consultation with stakeholders – not residents, the business community, workers, motorists, the entire City Council, etc. Parking regulations are needed. The city council says meters are needed to raise revenues for the city. But parking meters are not necessarily the best way for parking enforcement or raising revenues.
The main complaint about the parking meter is affordability. Drivers who wish to park in the so called clamp zone (very busy business area) simply cannot afford the parking rate. But the issue is not only the rate. There is the secrecy in which the Contract was negotiated and executed – it suggests that those who signed the Contract on behalf of the city have something to hide. And there is also the issue of percentage (20 per cent) that the Council will receive from the parking fees. The total estimated amount is not clear.
In most developed countries, local governments (cities) manage their own meters and collect virtually all of the fees and funds obtained from violations. So 20 per cent is a very low amount given to the city.
In some countries, where there are no parking meters, the local government auctions public parking spaces. Bidders offer a percentage or a certain amount of proceeds to the government, with the amount substantially higher than 20 per cent of the intake. Also, contracts are not signed in secrecy. There is an open bidding process and the highest and most reliable bidder in terms of rewards to the city wins and gets the contract to enforce parking regulations.
In Guyana, a foreign firm gets the contract on meters. This means the foreign company, Smart City Solutions (SCS), will repatriate the huge profits. Guyana already experiences foreign currency scarcity and control. The country’s foreign exchange will be depleted. The SCS contract will result in even tighter control of precious exchanges.
The parking meter proposal should be re-tendered since the Contract lacks integrity and openness.
Meters are not necessarily needed. Parking can be done in government-owned and operated lots or multi-story buildings. The lots can then be contracted out to bidders. Private parking facilities should be allowed; under the DCS contract, private lots are outlawed. Tendering to manage the public parking spaces should be an open process. Local companies should be given priority to manage the lots. In this way, foreign currency will be saved for use in real needs of the country. As almost everyone I spoke with in opposition to the meters, the City Council should scrap or revoke the SCS contract and start over to obtain a contract that will result in almost all of the fees going to the city (like managing the parking space itself or contract it out to a local contractor). The said parking fees should be made affordable to those utilising parking spaces. Otherwise, people will find creative ways to evade the parking fee once it remains high. In the end, the city will not realise its goal of collecting large amounts of revenues. And businesses will lose out on revenues as people will not want to park to patronise shops in the parking zone.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
