The legal costs associated with the parking meter case that was inherited from the former APNU/AFC Government continue to climb, with Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, S.C., revealing that the case has racked up over US$1 million in expenses.
“I had given a figure in Parliament of about one million US [dollars]. We would’ve gone past that now. I don’t have the exact figure but it’s definitely over one million US [dollars]. But we’re now coming to the end of [the case],” Nandlall told reporters at his ministry’s end-of-year press conference on Saturday.
He added, “…that’s the liability that we’ve inherited and in many, many cases we have been shouldering this type of liability… These are creations of the previous government but we have to continue to fetch the burden because Guyana is one state.”
The parking meter legal challenge was one of the many cases that the PPP/C government inherited from the former Coalition Administration when it took office in 2020.
At Saturday’s press conference, AG Nandlall disclosed that the hearings in this case have been ongoing and the State is now preparing to lead evidence.
“In July of 2025, we are expected to lead evidence in defence of our claim that we’re defending. We have been sued for US$100 million at that tribunal. We will be taking witnesses from Guyana and we’ve already retained the services of expert witnesses in the US who can speak to these matters,” Nandlall explained.
The Attorney General went on to confirm that one of the local witnesses they have identified is former Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, though he could not say if she was still scheduled to travel to the US to give testimony.
The parking meter project to introduce paid parking in busy areas of the capital city was implemented by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) under the former APNU/AFC government without meaningful consultations.
The majority of the meters were installed in 2016 but the project was terminated due to widespread protests, leaving them to rot.
In the aftermath of the failed project, Guyana was slapped with a US$100M lawsuit by Smart City Solutions (SCS) – the company contracted under the former government, for damages and compensation.
The case is ongoing in the United States before the Washington DC-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) – an arbitration institution established by the World Bank Group to address legal dispute resolution and conciliation between international investors and States.
Guyana has teams of lawyers, both in the US and locally, working on the case.
