Guyana awaits arbitration ruling on US$100M parking meter lawsuit

Guyana is awaiting a key decision in a high-stakes legal battle over a scrapped parking meter deal that could cost the country up to US$100 million.

The arbitration ruling will decide whether the government must pay damages to the company behind the controversial project, which was cancelled in 2017 after public backlash.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall recently led a delegation from Guyana including witnesses to testify in the arbitration proceedings before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Paris.

The proceedings started on September 29 and concluded on October 4.

“The hearings included the testimony of several witnesses; fact witnesses as well as expert witnesses from both sides. It included the examination in chief of these witnesses as well as the evidence adduced from them through cross-examination. After that process was concluded, then both sides were invited to make their closing arguments,” Nandlall explained during his programme “Issues in the News’ on Tuesday.

Among the witnesses who were scheduled to testify on behalf of Guyana are former Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan and former Georgetown Mayor and City Council councillors Malcolm Ferreira and Bisram Kuppen. In addition, a former Chancellor of the Judiciary also testified as an expert witness.

Guyana was represented in the proceedings by the Washington-based law firm Foley Hoag and Associates and the AG’s Chambers.

The case was registered with ICSID on December 22, 2021 and a tribunal to hear the matter was constituted on September 20, 2022, comprising Dr Campbell Alan McLachlan KC of New Zealand as the President along with arbitrators Stephan Schill of Germany, who was appointed by the company and Marcelo Kohen of Argentina, who was appointed by Guyana.

The tribunal has to now set a date to announce its decision.

“The tribunal has resolved its decision for a date to be announced. Of course, the parties will be informed in due course of that date and that date obviously will be made public,” the Attorney General said.

The ICSID is an arbitration institution established by the World Bank Group to address legal dispute resolution and conciliation between international investors and states.

Guyana is being sued for damages of US$100 million arising from a contract executed by the former APNU+AFC (A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change) Coalition Government for the implementation of the Georgetown Parking Meter Project, which was ultimately abandoned following widespread protest against the initiative.

Back in May 2016, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC), under then Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, signed a contract with Smart City Solutions for the paid parking system to be rolled out in Georgetown. The meters became operational in January 2017, but this was met with strong resistance from the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Opposition, Private Sector bodies and ordinary citizens, who formed an organisation called Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) – which went on to hold some of the largest non-political protests ever seen in the capital city.

Amid public pressure, the then Coalition Administration finally intervened and suspended the bylaws, which paved the way for the implementation of metered parking, thus effectively halting the parking meter project. In January 2018, a “Parking Meter Renegotiation Committee” at City Hall proposed a reduction in the parking fee from $500 per hour to $150 per hour.

Three months later, the then City Council approved amendments to the bylaws and had even appeared before the Coalition Cabinet to discuss the changes ot the contract, but the then Government never gave the green light for the project to recommence. However, a new City Council was elected later that year, and the new Mayor, Ubraj Narine, had told this publication in April 2019 that he was in no rush to reintroduce the initiative.

Back in December 2022, Nandlall had contended that this lawsuit filed against the State over the project is reflective of a series of destructive acts left behind by the APNU/AFC Coalition that the PPP/C Government now has to clean up.

During his programme on Tuesday, he reiterated this point, stating that “the taxpayers of Guyana continue to clean up the mess left by the APNU-AFC government and their underlings.”