LOCAL Government minister July Moyo has been implicated in
a massive tender scandal at the Harare City Council (HCC) after he allegedly
directed the local authority to award a Netherlands-based company a €120
million (US$134 million) contract for the construction of a waste-to-energy
plant at the Pomona dumpsite on the outskirts of the city without following
tender procedures, it has emerged.
The company — Integrated Energy B.V (IEBV) — signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with government, through the Local Government
Ministry and council last month. This is despite the fact that the company did
not participate in the tendering process, according to highly placed City of
Harare sources. The sources said IEBV is not among three companies, which
responded to a tender invitation for the project last year. Investigations by
the Zimbabwe Independent also showed that IEBV was only officially registered
in 2016 as a Dutch postbox company. The company is owned by a Dutch national
called Klodian Zoto.
The Independent tried to find contacts of the company, but
realised there are no official contact details, web address or emails except
for a physical address, given as Hoogoorddreef, 15 1101 BA, Amsterdam.
According to the Procurement Act, any contracts exceeding
one million dollars have to be awarded through a public tender.
Highly placed City of Harare sources said council initially
issued an invitation to tender for the project in 2016, but did not award a
successful bid. Documents further show that another tender invitation was
issued in November last year, but before it was awarded, an MOU was signed
between HCC, government and IEBV. Sources say that IEBV approached Moyo when
the second invitation was issued and offered to construct the plant on a build,
operate and transfer arrangement for an as yet to be specified period.
Moyo then directed council to consider IEBV for the
project, notwithstanding the ongoing tendering process.
The tender scope entailed construction of a waste
processing plant with energy recovery by producing electricity, which would be
fed into the national grid.
“The original tender was issued by the City of Harare on
the 23rd of August 2016. Twelve bidders submitted their proposals, but no award
was made. Another tender invitation was issued on the 2nd of November 2018.
Three bidders submitted their proposals in line with the Procurement Regulatory
authority stipulations. No award has yet been made from those three companies.
We were therefore surprised when we learnt that on the 7th of May, government
and HCC had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IEBV. All this came from
the minister himself and we don’t know what his interests are,” the source said.
City of Harare spokesperson Michael Chideme confirmed that
the tendering process was not completed.
“The 2016 tenders were adjudicated on and there was no
winner. No company was successful. On the current tender, it is still under
adjudication. There are investors which came through government and council
management was mandated to speak to the investor regarding the proposals.
Nothing has been awarded so far,” Chideme said.
Harare town clerk Hosiah Chisango said he was unaware of
what transpired in the deal, but would inquire with the local authority’s
supply chain manager. “I am now waiting for our supply chain manager to look at
the documents so that I am able to provide the correct information,” he said.
However, according to minutes of a recent Joint Environment
Management and Finance and Development Committee, Chisango persuaded
councillors to approve the deal. He indicated to them that IBEV had already
secured the necessary financial requirements for the project.
“Company capital of around €120 million (US$135 million),
€5 million (US$5,63 million) bank loan and the rest would be financed through
suppliers’ contracts and periodic payments by government,” Chisango said,
according to the minutes.
The joint committee then debated the matter and enquired
whether council was going to enter into a separate MoU with the proposed
partner, to which Chisango said a separate agreement would be signed. He also
told the committee that he would ensure that the partner adhered strictly to
specific timeframes stated in the MoU.
On the strength of his recommendations, an HCC full council
meeting held three weeks ago resolved that the local authority should enter
into negotiations with IEBV for the development of a waste to energy plant in
Harare and report to council once the deal was finalised.
Moyo told the Independent he did not know the company,
although he supports the deal in principle. He also said he was not involved in
awarding the company the tender.
“I do not know anything about this company and I have never
had any dealings with them, neither do I know of the arrangement they had with
City of Harare. However, from an environmental point of view, we do actually
encourage it because it is offering a renewable source of energy that is clean
and easy to manage,” Moyo said.
“I will get in touch with my people, so that they brief me
on this company because we encourage such sustainable development.”
Investigations showed that IEBV was also blacklisted in
Albania, where it was controversially awarded a tender to construct a waste
incinerator in the country’s capital city, Tirana, in 2017, in a deal in which
it would have managed the project for 30 years. Again, the deal was entered
into without following tender procedures.
According to the Albanian press, IEBV was the only company
which that took part in the tender, making an offer of around €128 million
(US$143,4 million). The Albanian press also reported that its proposal to build
the incinerator in Tirana was sent to that country’s ministry of environment
just three months before it officially existed as company.
After reviewing the unrequested offer, the council of
ministers decided to open a tender procedure on December 7, 2016, making sure
that IEBV received a bonus of 8%, basically guaranteeing that it would receive
the concession.
The deal led to huge street protests in Verri, a suburb
adjacent to the waste incinerator outside the Balkan nation’s capital Tirana in
January last year. The protesters were brutally assaulted by police. Protesters
wanted the deal to be cancelled, arguing that the company was being paid huge
amounts of money despite doing a shoddy job, according to the Albanian Daily
News.
Just on December 27 last year, Albanian Prime Minister Edi
Rama sacked half his cabinet (14 ministers) in response to the massive
protests. They included the country’s former finance minister Arben Ahmetaj,
who was identified by the press as having influenced the deal because he was
Zoto’s friend.
The deal has since become a huge political issue in the
country, with its opposition party leader, Jorida Tabaku, releasing documents
indicating that IEBV was paid 33 billion Albanian Lakes, an equivalent of
US$291 million, despite the fact that the incinerator is yet to be completed. Zimbabwe
Independent
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