Pomona project set to create 300 jobs

Harare- THE  recently inked Pomona waste management project is set create more than 300 jobs, Geogenix BV general manager Enea Murataj has said.
He made the revelations during a media tour of the project site Friday.
“We have taken details of the resident waste collectors and we are set to formally employ and relocate them .
“We are targeting to employ more than 300 people in the first five years of initial inception of the project,” he said.
He said the aim of the project is to assist Harare residents through managing their waste with ultimate benefit of electricity generation.
“Harare will become part of global circular economy where nothing goes to waste and there will be reduction in leaching from wastewater and air pollution contributing in making Harare a world class city by 2025,” he said.
The deal has been however been subject to controversy compelling the Harare City Council (HCC) to suspend it through a council resolution last month.

The company ‘s executive chairperson, Delish Nguwaya was unperturbed by the development and said he was preoccupied with fulfilling contractual obligations which are in black and white.
He piled blame on Harare mayor Jacob Mafume whom he said was a stumbling block in the implementation of the project.

“Everything we are doing is above board. The problem we have is not with HCC, but an individual, Harare mayor Jacob Mafume who wants the deal to be renegotiated,” Nguwaya said.

“He was not the mayor, but all the councillors agreed with the deal. We are going to forge ahead with the deal he said.
HCC stands to pay US$3, 5 million should the deal be cancel , a development which can possibly trigger the hike of rates and burdening ratepayers.

The HCC has appointed a special committee chaired by councillor Ian Makone (CCC) to probe the controversial deal.

A special council meeting last month voted for the suspension of the 30-year waste management deal which would see Geogenix BV pocketing over US$240 million at US$22 000 a day from council for waste deliveries.