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Parking meter suspension…Defiant Town Clerk tells Bulkan “no deal!”
…protesters clamp mouths, vow long haul to revocation
The Town Clerk of the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) Royston King
A section of the crowd in front of City Hall yesterday.
has written Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan informing him that a suspension of the parking meter contract to consult with protesters would not be possible.
Kaieteur News was informed of the development and confirmed it, when Deputy Mayor and Acting Town Clerk, Sherod Duncan, was contacted yesterday.
Duncan said that indeed a letter written by King, expressing the inability to suspend the project was communicated to the Minister. The Acting Mayor gave a general sense of what the correspondence addressed. He said that the Minister was told that the three-month suspension as was recommended by Cabinet would result in a breach of the agreement signed with Smart City Solutions (SCS) which would create a situation whereby the company would have to be reimbursed all of its investment.
Further, Duncan said that the Town Clerk ultimately asked Bulkan to provide more clarity on the recommendation, to assist the council to fully understand government’s position.
Duncan said that ultimately he is clear about Cabinet’s recommendation regarding the suspension of the contract, and is imploring City Hall in the spirit of goodwill and the working relationship it has with central government, to accede to the request in the national interest.
He said that the communication to the company must go through the office of the Town Clerk, since King is the person through whom the council enters into contracts and as such is the point person. The company has maintained that it will continue enforcing paid parking in the City, and up until Wednesday last had confirmed that it has not been officially notified of any decision to halt the project.
On Wednesday, Duncan had said that City Hall would be re-engaging the citizens of Georgetown on the matter of paid parking. He said that the Town Clerk would be communicating this to SCS shortly.
A group of protestors on Regent Street yesterday.
The Acting Mayor said that the intervention by Government is welcomed, and as a municipality, at the end of the day it only wants what is best for all the citizens.
This newspaper had reported on several occasions that the City Hall is cash-strapped and having to pay the company its investment cost would take it deeper into an economic meltdown.
Based on information received, the investment cost is said to be upwards of US$10M. According to the contract signed, if the M&CC wishes to unilaterally end the agreement, it would have to repay SCS the full sum and 15 per cent of it multiplied by the number of years remaining in the 20-year arrangement.
Meanwhile, despite the call for a suspension of the highly contentious parking meter programme, protestors came out in their numbers yesterday during their seventh weekly demonstration, calling for a total revocation of the project.
The demonstration was organised once again by the Movement Against Parking Meters, and saw many private businesses also taking part in the planned exercise.
Protestors were not unchallenged under the noon sun, as many who support the project, were also present to make their case.
The ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) stood in formation as the peaceful demonstration concluded one hour after it commenced at noon – on a patriotic note.
The first stanza of the National Anthem was harmonised before the placards came down and everyone dispersed.
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