NEW revelations have emerged that due diligence and approvals were done between Geogenix BV and Harare City Council (HCC) before signing of the Euro304 million waste-to-energy Pomona deal.
This comes after the city fathers, through mayor Jacob Mafume, have of late tried to suspend the deal, arguing it was never approved by council. HCC has also failed to pay US$780 000 in service fees for the month of May, which has already attracted a default notice from Georgenix BV.
According to documents seen by the Daily News, the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida), HCC and its officials had a trip to Italy and Albania in 2021 to carry out due diligence on similar projects undertaken by Geogenix BV.
“It is worth noting that prior to cabinet approval of the project, Geogenix BV officials visited the country from 20-23 June 2021 and held meetings with the minister of Local Government, City of Harare officials, the Public Private Partnership Committee and Zida. The visit by the Geogenix BV officials was meant to reaffirm their commitment to the project.
“It was during this visit that Geogenix BV extended the invitation for members of the project steering committee to visit Italy and Albania to ascertain for themselves the waste disposal and energy projects the company and its associates have developed in those countries. The project steering committee undertook the due diligence exercise to Italy from 13 to 17 September 2021 with a reduced team from this delegation proceeding to Albania from 17 to 21 September 2021,” the report read.
Following the trip, the city fathers held council meetings and on its meeting dated July 29 2021, HCC authorised ‘the acting town clerk to negotiate and enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Geogenix BV and resolved that the committee be authorised to undertake a visit of inspection of one of the Geoegenix projects to make an informed decision’.
After HCC and Zida recommended the project, the cabinet went on to approve the deal on February 18 this year. On February 23 this year, the Joint Environmental Management, Finance and Development and Business Committee recommended to council, among other things, “that council approves the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for the Pomona Waste-to-Energy Project”.
However, in recent weeks Mafume had tried to distance the council from the deal, calling it a corrupt agreement between the government and Geogenix BV. This comes as the GEO Pomona Waste Management has written to HCC demanding payment of US$780 000 for services rendered in May. The company also told city fathers that their recent move, through Mafume, to suspend the Pomona deal was null and void.
In a notice to HCC this week, Geo Pomona executive chairperson Dilesh Nguwaya said it seemed the council had no intentions to pay the US$780 fee for May, leaving the company with no choice, but to take further steps. Nguwaya said for failing to pay the May fees, HCC was now liable to a 12 percent interest, as provided for by the central bank of Zimbabwe.