In the wake of the public controversy that has shrouded the planned introduction of parking meters in the capital in recent months, Managing Director of Smart City Solutions Ifa Kamau Cush told Stabroek Business that yesterday’s launch of public consultations on the issue at the National Library represented a determined effort on his part to ensure that Guyanese secure “the correct understanding” of the nature and potential benefits of the project.
Much of the controversy surrounding the planned installation of parking meters in Georgetown as of September this year has centred around the planned business arrangement between Smart City Solutions and City Hall and more particularly arising out of claims made by senior city officials including Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan that they were not consulted on the project.
There have also been muted expressions of concern on the issue of accountability arising out of the disclosure that the parking meter project will generate millions of dollars in revenue for City Hall. Those concerns have arisen out of what observers say has been problems relating to accountability that have afflicted the municipality over the years.
While Cush told Stabroek Business that Smart City Solutions was not ideally positioned to speak for City Hall he said that his company was nonetheless concerned that its reputation be attached to an agreement that was transparent and above board. Cush said that in order to seek as far as possible to ensure that this is realized the system in place guarantees the City Treasurer “real-time password access” to the facility so that it can have a knowledge of every transaction and, in effect, every dollar that Smart City Solution makes. “For our part, Smart City Solutions will make a public announcement regarding every payment that is made to City Hall. So that the public will be kept abreast of the earnings of the city from the parking meter project.”
In his exchange with City Hall Cush also sought to clear up what he said were misrepresentations of the actual costs to consumers associated with the use of the parking meters. The Smart City CEO told this newspaper that parking under the metered regime will cost around $50 per 15 minutes or approximately $200 per hour. Accordingly, eight-hour-day employees, for example, seeking metered parking for a five-hour working day can expect to have to spend around $1,600 per month in parking fees, a significant reduction on the earlier considerably higher fee that was being bandied about.
Cush told Stabroek Business that his decision to launch a public consultation as part of a wider public information exercise had been triggered by a conviction that going directly to the various categories of persons likely to be affected by parking meters was likely to yield “more favourable results in terms of public understanding.”
There has still been no public announcement on the outcome of the government’s decision that the parking meter contract be examined for irregularities, a circumstance which still leaves room for a measure of doubt as to whether the parking meter project will be implemented to the disclosed deadline.
