City Council setting up committee to monitor parking project

Deputy Mayor of Georgetown Akeem Peter was on Monday elected to be Chairperson of a new committee that has been set up to overlook the daily operations of metered parking in the capital city.

Fellow APNU+AFC councillor Noelle Chow-Chee was also elected to the committee and will serve as Vice-Chairperson.

“Since we have accepted and approved the by-laws, I am now asking this council to accept and approve the appointment of the committee and nominate the representatives for the council,” Town Clerk Royston King urged the council’s fortnightly statutory meeting on Monday.

He noted that under the Municipal and District Councils Act, there is provision for the formulation of a special committee to regulate and manage council projects.

The Town Clerk further disclosed that only councillors are eligible to hold the positions of either Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson.

The committee is to be made of up five persons. Of the remaining three members, two are to be recommended by Smart City Solutions (SCS), while the other will be an independent member of the public.

They are yet to be identified.

Both Peter and Chow-Chee were nominated by APNU+AFC Councillor Oscar Clarke and the nominations were seconded by Councillor Heston Bostwick, also of APNU+AFC.

After the nominations, Councillor Monica Thomas moved to nominate Peter as the Chairperson, which the APNU+AFC Councillors approved and Chow-Chee was automatically appointed as Vice-Chairperson.

Peter previously headed a committee to renegotiate the metered parking contract with SCS and Chow Chee had served as the Vice-Chairperson.

In addition, King announced that they have placed copies of the amended by-laws at the National Library, the Guyana Post Office head office, the Kitty and Agricola post offices, all operating markets in the city, the offices of the Town Clerk and the Mayor and at the Dorothy Bailey and Festival City health centres.

Last Wednesday, the amended by-laws for metered parking in the city were approved by a vote of 13 to 2.

With the changes, motorists are no longer required to pay for parking spaces, but for parking time. The new fee arrangement states that metered parking within the city will be VAT inclusive at a cost of $150 per hour or $800 for eight hours.

A tiered immobilisation or clamping regime for breaches of parking laws has also been introduced under the changes, with the new proposed fines starting at $2,000 plus VAT and ascending if they go unpaid.

The previous by-laws had instituted immobilisation fees at $8,000.