Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan has said that it is unfair for the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to accuse central government or the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of not engaging or consulting the business community on metered parking in the city in light of efforts to do so.
The assertion that the city refused to engage businesses is being challenged by Bulkan, who yesterday released a letter which he said was evidence of efforts to engage the PSC even as he maintained an invitation to dialogue with the ministry and M&CC still stands. “I wish to make clear that the invitation for dialogue still stands. I believe that such dialogue is likely to be far more fruitful than confrontation, whether in the streets or via the media,” Bulkan said.
As part of its campaign against the implementation of the Georgetown metered parking system, the PSC on Friday said that the City Council had displayed unmatched arrogance in its refusal to engage businesses in any attempt to compromise.
The PSC accused the council of paying lip service to a tri-partite committee set up by President David Granger to “promote dialogue and arrive at a mutually agreed position which would ensure that the council increased its revenue without unduly burdening the citizens and the businesses which plied their trade in the capital.”
In its own statement on the matter, the PSC explained that in August of 2016, when the idea of parking meters being installed was first introduced, it met with Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and other representatives of the M&CC. According to the commission, it became evident at this meeting that the council was not prepared to concede to any of the concerns of the private sector and the idea of the tri-partite committee was proposed.
The committee, which was to consist of representatives from the PSC, M&CC and central government, was formally launched by President Granger in early September of 2016 at a gathering which included the ministers of Business and Communities.
The PSC added that though the purpose and structure of the committee was made clear, it also became evident after the first few meetings that the council was only paying lip-service to the initiative as it “became inconvenient for them to attend meetings because the Mayor either was abroad or was otherwise indisposed and no deputy was authorised to represent her.”
In response to these developments, the PSC said, it wrote to both Chase-Green and Granger and the trade unions seeking to discuss alternatives to the metering project.
It said a letter written on November 25 generated no response from Chase-Green, while on January 11, 2017, the Minister of Communities responded on behalf of the President.
This letter, which Bulkan made public yesterday, was referred to by the PSC as “three pages of the mayor’s opinions.”
Bulkan, however, argued that it offered the PSC an opening to further dialogue on the issue.
The letter itself details those terms of the metered parking contract which have been made public and offers “regional comparable terms in metered parking projects.” Among these “comparable terms” was that in Ecuador, the Municipality of Canton Playas is currently remunerated 15% of revenues earned from metered parking, the municipalities of Medellin and Barranquilla in Colombia earn 15% to 22% of revenue and the Municipality of David in Panama is remunerated US$100,000 per year on a concession for up to 1,000 parking spaces.
The letter explains that the David concession increases by US$5,000 per year over its 20-year life before noting that the 20% payable to City Council by Smart City Solutions (SCS) was negotiated to increase to 30% over the life of the project.
It stressed that the “20% concession fee payable to the city is from revenue, irrespective of the company’s profits or losses” and that the 80% earned by the company is to be used for varied functions.
These include the repayment of the investment in the project, which is fully contributed by SCS (estimated at US$10 million); the operating costs of the project, which are fully contributed by the company as well as the risks of the project and its successful execution in an environment for which such a project represents a cultural shift.
Net income, if any, which may be generated after satisfaction of the above is subject to be taxed at the corporate income tax rate of 35%, the letter also explains, before noting that the M&CC looks forward to assistance from and collaboration with the PSC to improve its operational efficiencies in discharge of its tasks of managing the affairs of Georgetown.
