RESOLUTIONS by Harare City councillors to block or cancel the Pomona waste management project are invalid since the Government was involved from the start and efforts to derail the project work against the interests of residents and the nation at large, Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo has said.
In a letter to Harare Mayor, Councillor Jacob Mafume,
Minister Moyo said minutes of a council meeting held on August 3 reported
resolutions detrimental to the city as waste management was a nightmare under
the present council.
In any case, there was a binding contract between Geogenix
BV and council while the Government had granted the project national status,
showing its importance.
In the letter dated September 27, 2022, Minister Moyo cited
a number of resolutions that were made in that meeting, the notable one being
that council should not oppose the court case by residents of Harare for
publication of the report on investigations into converting Pomona waste to
energy.
Other resolutions were that council exercises the
termination clause in its contract with Geo Pomona Waste Management (Pvt) Ltd
to cancel the deal and mandated the acting chamber secretary to proceed with
the necessary action.
“Pursuant to the passing of the resolutions, your office
through the office of the town clerk advised the Ministry through a letter
dated 26 September.
“In my view the above mentioned resolutions were gratitious
and not in the interests of the inhabitants of Harare and the public at large,
a burden which is now cascading to the inhabitants and therefore cannot be
allowed,” he said.
Minister Moyo said in any case, the project was granted
national project status by Government and therefore in the national interest,
Government is part of this arrangement.
“Hence Government will not accept such an action which
undermines efforts to enhance service delivery in the local authorities as well
as erosion of investor confidence on current and future investments in
Zimbabwe,” he said.
“I accordingly, direct in terms of Section 314 of the Urban
Council’s Act, that council immediately rescinds the resolutions cited above
which seeks to not oppose the court case as well as the termination of the
contract. The resolution is, in my view, in bad faith and not in the public
interest.”
The €304 million Pomona dumpsite waste-to-energy project is
expected to generate up to 22MW of electricity.
Apart from electricity generation, the project is also
projected to generate at least 300 jobs, boost economic growth and reduce the
country’s import bill for electricity with the investor already exploring other
investment opportunities in the country.
There has been persistent attempts by opposition CCC
councillors led by Mayor Mafume to
derail projects that are critical in the restoration of Harare’s sunshine City
status. Herald
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