City Hall’s parking meter contract being reviewed  

Georgetown, GINA, June 22, 2016

Government has moved to ensure that there are no illegalities with regards to City Hall’s parking meters’ contractual obligations. This was announced today, by Minister of State Joseph Harmon at a post-Cabinet media briefing.

The Minister stated that the decision was made following a briefing on the issue by Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan. He added that “whilst Cabinet is committed to its principle of respecting the independence and authority of our municipalities and NDCs, it nonetheless decided that given that Georgetown is the capital city, and that the decisions made by the Town Council will affect all Guyanese who have to come into the City, a decision was made to have the contract reviewed by the Ministry of Finance and the Attorney General’s Chambers.”

Minister Harmon reiterated that the council is “young” and Government believes that all councils “must operate independently and Government must not interfere with the running of the councils”. However, he said if claims are being made about something being wrong with this contract, “if there is some illegality about it, then certainly Government has a responsibility to have a look at the contract itself.” This move, he added, will determine whether there is any truth to claims being made by some persons about the contract.

Some councillors, it is reported, have complained that they have been denied access to the parking meters contract.

The Minister of State made it clear that once any illegality is discovered then the necessary action will be taken. “It doesn’t prevent the law enforcement arms of the State, Attorney General’s Chambers and the Director of Public Prosecution from looking into it and to give advice to the Cabinet so Government can decide on what course of action to take,” he stated.

The Minister added that the review has nothing to do with the rates for parking on selected streets in Georgetown.

September 1, 2016, has been cited as the date for the National Parking Systems/ Smart City Solutions project to be implemented by the Georgetown City Council in several city streets.