$125 for 15 mins parking in City

By Leroy Smith

The first parking meter for the city was on Tuesday cleared from Customs and is available for demonstrations at City Hall, Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic.

Employees of Smart City Solution were today providing demonstrations to members of the city on how the parking meter system will work and how they are going to be billed.

It was communicated that the meters would be charging 125 dollars for fifteen minutes of parking. However it was explained that persons can purchase more than the fifteen minutes of parking, which is not used up at one time, will be rolled over.

The controversial parking meter project is expected to be implemented by September of this year.

During a recent press conference, Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green disclosed that approximately 100 persons will be hired and trained by Smart Solutions Inc. to operate the system. The investor has since begun inviting persons to come on board.

Once the operation comes on stream, 20% of the proceeds will go to City Hall, while the remaining 80% will go to the investor.

It is also expected that the investor would be responsible for the maintaining or the meters. There have been criticisms for the project due to the lack of transparency and consultations.

Cabinet has since indicated that the contract is being reviewed. Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan did explain to the News room that he was also disappointed in the manner in which a few members of the council have been operating in relation to the project.