Claim: CCC in Pomona deal climb down
Source: The Herald Newspaper
On Tuesday 19 July 2022, The Herald reported that Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led Harare City Council (HCC) is withdrawing its initial decision to suspend the Pomona deal.
Initially, HCC had entered into a controversial 30-year waste management deal with the Netherland-based Geogenix BV which would have seen the city council paying up to US$22,000 per day in a waste-to-energy deal.
The deal aims to turn waste into energy by generating 22 megawatts of electricity to be sold to Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA).
However, the Pomona Waste Management deal was not done with due diligence as it did not go through the correct public procurement processes, hence, the city council resolved to suspend it.
Yesterday, a state-owned publication, The Herald reported that HCC was now rescinding their decision to put the deal on hold.
Harare Mayor, His Worship Jacob Mafume has said the story is untrue as they “have not climbed down on anything.”
Mayor Mafume said: “This is false. We stand by our resolutions not to pay this amount. We will not be part of this contrary to public morals contract. We asked the residents if we should pay and they said no. We will stand by the residents always. There is no climbing down on residents’ monies.”
He added that his council coffers are empty and they cannot sustain such a deal.
Earlier this month, Local Government minister July Moyo ordered HCC to pay US$1,5 million to Geogenix for services rendered at the Pomona waste management energy plant which include drilling a borehole and building a four-roomed house at the dumpsite.
Numerous clauses in the Pomona deal are highly prejudicial to Harare City Council, residents of Harare and the nation at large.
The deal is being fronted by businessman Delish Nguwaya who is the Geogenix BV Zimbabwean representative.
