Two weeks after calling for an “urgent meeting” at which councillors could discuss the findings of the government’s review of the contentious parking system contract between City Hall and Smart City Solutions Inc (SCS), Mayor Patricia Chase Green has indicated that the meeting will take place this week.
“I said there would be a meeting. We were not able to hold that meeting between last statutory and this one but between tomorrow and Friday, when all the facts are with us, we will hold that meeting,” Chase-Green announced at yesterday’s statutory meeting.
A review by the Attorney General’s Chambers had revealed that the contract was of such “unequal bargaining strength” that it includes a clause intended to scare the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) at the prospect of terminating the agreement.
The review also noted that the financial regime of fees and fines to the account of the concessionaire “seem to be so onerous on the city and thus the citizens that a caveat is provided that these figures could be reduced by agreement between the parties.”
In light of this fact, the Attorney General’s Chambers noted that the parties can revisit the terms and conditions of the agreement, with the city employing an accountant to advise it with a view to reaching a reasonable financial fees and fines regime along with the appropriate consideration that ought to be paid to the city.
This advice aligns with some of the findings of the Ministry of Finance review of the contract, in which it described the deal in some areas as exploitive and labelled the city’s outlook on aspects of the deal as “ignorant.”
That report also revealed for the first time that the secret contract grants fiscal concessions to the company which are not within the powers of the city and would now have to be addressed by Go-Invest, the Ministry of Finance and the Guyana Revenue Authority after the fact.
As a result, the report recommended that the City Council of Georgetown employs an accountant to “advise” as it revisits “the terms and conditions” of the controversial agreement.
Though Chase-Green has said that it is her administration’s intention to work towards fulfilling the recommendations of the central government, there has been no indication that steps have been taken in that regard. “We respect everything the government would’ve said and intend to work towards achieving the recommendations,” she had said on August 7.
