Smart City Solutions (SCS) has defended itself against those who have questioned its credibility.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, SCS acknowledged, “repeated expressions of doubt about the background and credibility of Smart City Solu-tions” and sought to dispel those doubts by stating that “Operadora de Estaciona-mientos Bicentenario (OEB) of Mexico is a member and major investor in the consortium which owns and operates and is a co-founder of Smart City Solutions Guyana.”
SCS does not name the consortium, but provides a letter from the supplier of the parking meters which offers a
reference for OEB and a company called Materiales Profesionales of Panama (MatPro).
According to the letter dated June 27, 2016 and signed by Franck Bourdy Business Development Manager of Parkeon, his company has enjoyed an excellent relationship with OEB and MatPro through the years.
According to Bourdy, Parkeon has done business with OEB since 2011 and with MatPro since 2015. Through this relationship, Parkeon which is the world’s largest supplier of parking meter equipment has been able to increase the footprint of Parkeon in Mexico, Panama and Peru.
“We are very pleased to have been informed that recently by OEB and MatPro that they have now further increased their regional scope by signing through their Guyanese entity, Smart City Solutions, a procurement and operations agreement with the city of Georgetown for on-street parking,” Bourdy writes.
While the release states that the unnamed consortium is a co-founder of SCS, a document from Guyana’s Deeds Registry notes only that Simon Mosheshvili and Ifagbamila Cush are directors of the company with Mosheshvilli also being named secretary.
Additionally both the original contract signed on May 13, 2016 and the amended contract signed on September 16, 2016 refer to SCS as a “company registered in Guyana”. There is no reference to the companies named in the letter or the consortium mentioned.
Notably SCS was registered on May 6, 2016, one week before it signed the contract with the city on May 13, 2016. The letter of reference which was written on June 27 also came one week after Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Head of the Finance Committee Oscar Clarke assured the public that they had conducted due diligence on SCS before signing the contract.
