Attorney-General Basil Williams is in the process of reviewing the parking meters contract for Georgetown which has sparked controversy due to the secretive nature of the deal. The AG made the disclosure during a press conference on Saturday but refused to divulge any further information as it pertains to the process. He said as of Saturday morning, he had only gotten a glimpse of the contract. When questioned by reporters, he could not say how long the review is expected to take.
President David Granger had previously said he believes that the current proposed rate for paid parking in the city is burdensome for any person and this is the reason why Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan has been asked to examine the contract. Subsequently, Minister of State Joseph Harmon told a post-Cabinet press briefing last week that government had ordered a review of the contract to ascertain if it contains any illegalities.
“So this is the decision that Cabinet took, that the Attorney General’s Chamber and the Ministry of Finance will have a look at the contract to see if there is anything…that closely resembles the complaints made by citizens,” Harmon had said.
Mayor of Georgetown Patricia Chase-Green recently announced that the city will be going ahead with the parking meters project, which is expected to come on stream from September 1.
Chase-Green who had led a team to Mexico and Panama in order to look at parking meters there, had said that she was very satisfied that the contractor, National Parking Systems (NPS), can provide a product which will be beneficial to the people of Georgetown.
While Chase-Green has lobbied in support of the US$10 million deal, several councillors, including Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan, have questioned why the contract, signed by Town Clerk Royston King, was not made available for review by the entire council.
Chase-Green has since said the contract is the “private document of the administration,” which she took “a deliberate decision not to share… because we wanted to secure the investment. We have had bad experiences with sharing contracts, proposals and initiatives only to have them subtly taken away from the council.”
She has also noted that the contract will not be made public until the project is well into the implementation stages, which has drawn sharp criticism. Also criticised was the lack of public consultation on the details of the contract, which reportedly include a 49-year monopoly and $500 an hour cost to citizens. The mayor has since claimed that the cost to citizens will be much less.
