US$100M parking meter lawsuit

Arbitration proceedings to commence next week at ICSID in Paris

Arbitration proceedings in the US$100 million lawsuit filed by Smart City Solutions Holdings Inc. against the Guyana Government over the controversial parking meter project, are set to commence next week before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Paris, France.

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, is leading a delegation, which includes witnesses, to France for the proceedings before the ICSID – scheduled from Monday, September 29 to Saturday, October 4.

The ICSID is an arbitration institution established by the World Bank Group to address legal dispute resolution and conciliation between international investors and states. Guyana is being sued for damages of US$100 million arising from a contract executed by the former APNU+AFC (A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change) Coalition Government for the implementation of the Georgetown Parking Meter Project, which was ultimately abandoned following widespread public protest against the initiative. Among the witnesses scheduled to testify on behalf of Guyana are former Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan and former Georgetown Mayor and City Council councillors Malcolm Ferreira and Bishram Kuppen. In addition, a former Chancellor of the Judiciary will also testify as an expert witness. Guyana is represented in the proceedings by the Washington-based law firm Foley Hoag and Associates and the AG’s Chambers. The case was registered with ICSID on December 22, 2021 and a tribunal to hear the matter was constituted on September 20, 2022, comprising Dr Campbell Alan McLachlan KC of New Zealand as the President along with arbitrators Stephan Schill of Germany, who was appointed by the company and Marcelo Kohen of Argentina, who was appointed by Guyana. Back in May 2016, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC), under then Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, signed a contract with Smart City Solutions for the paid parking system to be rolled out in Georgetown. The meters became operational in January 2017, but this was met with strong resistance from the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (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 capital city. Amid public pressure, the then Coalition Administration finally intervened and suspended the bylaws, which paved the way for the implementation of metered parking, thus effectively halting the parking meter project. 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 Coalition Cabinet to discuss the changes ot 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 the new Mayor, Ubraj Narine, had told this publication in April 2019 that he was in no rush to reintroduce the initiative. He explained that parking meters are a good initiative for the city, “but it’s the way you introduce [it]”.
Although the contract had already been renegotiated, Narine also indicated that he would still need to further renegotiate with the investors before moving to reintroduce the project. Nevertheless, AG Nandlall back in December 2022 had contended that this lawsuit filed against the State over the project is reflective of a series of destructive acts left behind by the APNU/AFC Coalition that the PPP/C Government now has to clean up.
“This is the kind of destruction that these people have done… These are invaluable taxpayers’ dollars that we will have to now spend in defending a claim, and APNU and AFC and PNC are living their merry lives. They don’t have anything to do with this. They just wash their hands off of it and left this burden with us to carry,” the AG contended.