Letters...Letters...Letters...Letters...Letters...Letters...Letters...Letters... Letters...Letters...Letters... Letters... The parking meter contractor should be Chanderpaul training paid only 10% of revenues for 50 years to be a cricket coach

Dear Editor,

I refer to your headline in the Friday August 26 edition of the Stabroek News: ‘Parking meters company recruiting staff -though city still to act on damning findings about contract.’

There has been lot written about this matter but unfortunately no one has attempted to do an economic justification of the project based on current best practices.

Information on the new parking meters for the City of Georgetown as published in the local newspapers:

1. Sole sourcing of supplier with a contract period of 50 years as stated by the Deputy Mayor or is it 49 years as stated by the parking meter contractor?

2. The parking rates would be $200.00 per hour as stated by the Mayor or is it $125.00 per 15 minutes stated by the employees of the parking meter company?

3. The parking meter company would be paid 80% of the revenues collected from the meters and the city would get the remaining 20%.

In my online research, I found that the City of Memphis USA had modernized their parking meters in 2013. More information on this project can be found at memphistn.gov/parkingmeters. In the Frequently asked Questions section of that website I found the following information:

1. What types of meters are we getting and how were they selected?

The meters that will be installed are both multi-space kiosks and single space meters. After the process of releasing a request for proposals for new equipment, the City received 6 proposals and out of those, the current vendor was identified (Parkeon) as the best choice for Memphis.

2. What are the benefits of the modernized system?

One of the major benefits of modernizing the system is the ability to use a credit or debit card. Also, the meters have wireless capabilities that enable them to notify the parking meter department when they need service.

3. How many parking meters are being purchased?

Our initial purchase is 135 multispace parking kiosk and 485 single space parking meters. These will manage approximately 1500 onstreet parking spaces. We have the option to purchase additional parking meters at the same negotiated price if necessary.

4. How will the City of Memphis pay for this parking meter modernization?

The City has signed a 5-year lease/purchase agreement with the vendor. Payments will be covered by the parking fees.

5. What is the current parking meter rate and has the rate increased recently?

The current parking meter rate is $1.00 an hour. Two years ago it was raised from 75 cents to $1.00 an hour.

The parking meters installed by the City of Memphis are similar to the ones that are being proposed for the City of Georgetown, and the rate of US$1.00 per hour is equivalent to the $200.00 per hour quoted by the Mayor of Georgetown.

In the case of Memphis, the total cost of the meters would be paid in 5 years; that means that the parking meter contractor would be paid 100% of the revenue for 5 years. If the same formula was used for Georgetown, then the parking meter contractor should be paid 80% for only 6.25 years.

Using the same formula for a 50year contract period would result in the parking meter contractor being paid 10% per year for 50 years. If the contract is actually 49 years, then he should be paid 10.2% per year for 49 years.

I understand that this secret, solesourced contract between the parking meter contractor and officials of the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown was reviewed by the Government of Guyana which found no indication of corruption. While I would not question the findings of that investigation, I would state that, based on my research and calculations, it would be a clear case of exploitation of the Georgetown by the parking meter contractor if he were to be paid 80% of the revenues per year from the parking meters for 50 years instead of a figure closer to 10% per year for the same period.

Yours faithfully, T Singh Dear Editor, Former West Indies and Guyana star batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul who has been sidelined by the selectors is now training to be a cricket coach. The disappointed Chanderpaul who feels that the selectors did not handle his exit properly, was one of the 20 coaches from around the USA who attended a ten-hour coaching seminar conducted by former Australia all-rounder, Tom Moody at Fort Lauderdale Florida.

Shiv who was the backbone of the Windies batting for more than a decade in his 21-year international career, although interested in a potential coaching career, still believes that at age 42 he still has a lot of cricket in him since he is fit. He plays club cricket for Sarasota in Florida and last week he scored 160 and 140. He said, "My legs remember what to do; my body remembers what to do, my mind, my eyes. It's just to hit a few balls and I'm good to go.”

It is his wish to play at least one more first class season for Guyana in order to guide the young players. I sincerely hope that the Guyana selectors will see it fit to accede to his request. After all he deserves much more than that. The West Indies Cricket Board continues to treat their star shabbily as they did former captain Courtney Walsh and opening batting star Desmond Haynes and many others.

The West Indies has quite a few promising youngsters according to ‘Tiger’ and they need guidance and encouragement. He said Shimron Heymyer is one who played extremely well during the last tournament.

Chanderpaul played 164 Test matches and scored 11,867 runs in his 280 innings at an average of 51.37. He was not out on 49 occasions. He scored 30 centuries and his highest score was 203 not out. Although he is known to be a defensive batsman, he scored the third fastest Test century. He played 268 ODIs and scored 8,778 runs at an average of 41.60 including 11 centuries and 59 half centuries.

He also captained the West Indies team on 16 occasions and is the 7th highest run scorer of all time. Yours faithfully, Oscar Ramjeet