City of Harare Mayor Councilor Jacob Mafume has told Local Government minister July Moyo that they no-longer want to be part of the controversial Pomona Waste to Energy deal they entered with a Netherlands based Geogenix B.V.
Addressing a press conference after meeting with Minister Moyo today, Mafume said they met the Local Government minister and told him they no longer want to be part of the deal which has caused a lot of noise in the country.
“This morning, we held a meeting with the minister, permanent secretary in the ministry and a deputy secretary in the office of the president dealing with infrastructure and we reiterated that we dont have the money to pay as council, the residents have not agreed that the devolution funds be used for that purpose and that we want out, in other words we want our dumpsite back,” said Mafume.
He added that currently they are hamstrung by the letter from July Moyo which directed that they pay Geogenix and suspended the investigative committee that was supposed to look into the matter.
“What is holding us back at the present moment is the two letters from the minister and these two letters we are going to deal with them legally through the courts.
We feel the letters are not fair, they are there to gag the investigation committee and they are there to tie the hands of council in a matter that is supposed to be a preserve of the council,” added Mafume.
He further trashed the Pomona deal saying the contract is problematic as it forces them to pay Geogenix for using their property.
“We hold firm to our position that we were not part of this contract, the contract has clauses that penalizes us, one of the clauses is that whether we bring in waste or not, we are to pay money under a guaranteed minimum, currently 550 tonnes which is US$22 000 per day increasing to 1000 tonnes which is US$40 000 per day to pay for waste management for 30 years, now that is problematic, first of all we are the landlord, where in the world has a landlord ever paid rentals on their property. Secondly the investment has not been made on the property, there is a jojo tank and a 6 roomed cottage that has been built there,” said Mafume.
City of Harare has been embroiled in a battle with Geogenix which is headed by controversial businessman Dilesh Nguwaya with the local authority refusing to pay service fees for dumping waste on the site.
Geogenix has since wrote to City of Harare saying the Concession Agreement accords them powers to take remedial action in case of the municipality failing to respect its contractual obligations.
