Minister Benn threatens City Hall with withdrawal of Govt. funds

May 13, 2008 News

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Public Works Minister Robeson Benn yesterday threatened the withdrawal of Government assistance to City Hall when the Minister and members of the Council engaged a verbal battle over the utilisation of the Stabroek Car Park as a new parking area for buses.

The heated forum arose during an emergency press conference at City Hall and preceded the Council’s statutory meeting.

Enraged at the course of the meeting, the Minister articulated that the Public Works Ministry, in particular, is prepared at any time to cease spending the “hundreds of millions of dollars” which is used up every year to patch roads, fix potholes and drains in the city.

“If you want us to withdraw, advise us so…If the Council could advise me on how many potholes they have fixed in the city for this year, I am prepared to take it. I have asked for a list of roads and works that the Council intends to do for this year in the city, and I am still awaiting it!”

In presenting his argument in defence of the relocation of buses to the Stabroek Car Park, Minister Benn said that the problem of congestion in the city has been around for a long time. It is finally time that the problem be fixed.

He said that in compliance with a court order to address the matter, a westward shift of all public transportation, which utilised Avenue of the Republic as a parking area, towards the Stabroek Market area was introduced.

“There have been some confusion and some unwillingness to accord to the movement, but it is going ahead and we will stick with it, along with the cooperation of the Mayor and City Councillors and with the enforcement of the Guyana Police Force,” the Minister assured.

Benn said that there has since been representation from some route operators and others with respect to some minor variations, which are currently being evaluated and will be addressed by this morning.
One of the issues of concern is the fact that the new arrangements will in no way compromise the commercial operations of the Stabroek Car Park while giving way to minibuses and allowing accommodation for other users.

But according to the Minister, historically the area at the front of the market has been an area of public transportation.

He said that the intention of the relocation exercise is to have the area returned to its former usage, since it has been observed to have very low occupancy and sufficient space for the buses.
However, he noted that one of the difficulties in fully reaching this objective is the Council’s assignment of the area to a private operator to facilitate a parking lot.

“We are not in accord with that arrangement. We have been having discussions since last November with operators of the bus services and their representatives. We have made several field visits and we had our draft documents…We are still at a loss to understand how an association or persons purporting to be a minibus operators’ union or something, who don’t even own a bus, could have been given this area without referring it to the Ministries of Public Works and Home Affairs. ”

Benn said that his understanding of the law is that the usage and assignment of parking areas in the city, particularly for public transportation, have to be accorded to by the relevant inistries and the Police Traffic Department.

He added, too, that if the Council intended to go ahead with its plans for the parking area it will be a sign that the municipality, the Ministry and all other collaborating agencies have been negotiating in bad faith, a position he (the Minister) does not intend to embrace.

“We can’t have these things mushrooming like this…after we spent a lot of time, effort and energy! This is a matter I hope that we can resolve amicably over the next day or so, without us continuing to skirmish over…”
But, according to the City Mayor, the municipality has always been ready and willing to cooperate with state agencies to ensure that the objectives of finding a solution to the congestion of vehicular traffic and the allied question of mini bus parking in the city.

He pointed out that the Council’s position remains unaltered, that the basic recommendations to allow for order in the city are contained in the Greater Georgetown Development Plan 2001-2010.
“These recommendations are sensible and can take us forward. We appreciated the urgency consequent to the court order as it relates to parking in specified areas…”

However, Mayor Green disclosed that the Council has been operating the Car Park since 1982, and in 1996 implemented the application of a fee, which became part of the municipal revenue earning profile.
And it was late last year, he related, that the Council accepted a proposal from a private parking company to manage the Stabroek Park at a fixed fee.

According to Mayor Green, the operation of that entity had commenced on May 1 with a view to boosting the Council’s revenue base.

Green said that, at a meeting on Saturday, the Ministry of Works and other stakeholders, after some discussions, assured the municipality that the traffic count available to personnel of the Ministry would allow the car park to accommodate minibuses, vehicles, vendors, wholesalers, retailers and the general public without compromising operations at the facility.
“We thought that we had found a consensus between the Ministry of Works and the municipality, the Police, etc. An unbelievable directive was given inconsistent with my understanding of what took place at that meeting on Saturday.

In fact, I recall very vividly that I made the point that I expect that the car park as it is should remain accessible to minibuses and the other people who utilise it,” Green added. Green said that he finds the move by the Ministry both strange and wrong, adding that the Council, at the recent meeting, had proposed additional facilities for parking, since it is evident that unless more space is provided it would be impossible to solve the congestion problem.

According to him, had the development plan been engaged the congestion problem could have been solved, but, instead, the Public Works Ministry “is moving one cancer from one spot to put it at another spot…”

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