$25, 000 to park containers for 72 hours in the city

To address the issue of containers being left on city streets for long periods, business persons are being asked to pay GYD$25,000 for 72 hours parking and a penalty fee of $5000 for every other day the container is left parked in the public space.

The Mayor and City Council, made this announcement on Tuesday, noting that “previously, business persons and other container operators have been accessing city streets and other public spaces with those containers free of cost. However, the containers are sometimes left parked in public spaces for long periods. They take up much space in especially active locations, and in some cases add to the congestion situation.”

The statement from the Municipality said the decision was taken on Monday, July 11, 2016, at the council’s statutory meeting and was adapted by the full council.

“Containers- loaded or not- contributes immensely to the destruction of city roads. In some cases they have broken or bent bridge railings and broken off road shoulders, leaving the city to bear the expense” it explained.

The idea according to Mayor Patricia Chase-Green is to ensure that containers are not left parked around the city if it is not being used. She explained that the Council was in receipt of complaints by persons who were being affected by the wanton parking of containers in the city.

The council said the regularization of container movement in the city is part of a wider traffic regulation operation being undertaken by the Municipality, adding that “it was made clear that Council is powered under the Municipal and District Council Act Chapter 28:01, to implement such fee and ‘not a tax’ in its bid to manage the operation of containers within the city.”
Town Clerk Royston King said that other measures are being implemented to ensure the safe and orderly movement of containers, such as monitoring agents to be stationed at the wharf and other ports of entry within the capital.