Council engages Govt on million-dollar energy project

HARARE City Council has submitted a proposal to Government for the construction of an integrated multi-million dollar waste to energy project.

The city council is investing in the project with a view to convert litter into energy and is currently in discussions with potential partners to set up a plant at Pomona landfill to generate energy through the extraction of landfill biogas.

Through its director of works, council submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Local Government Public Works and National Housing for onward submission to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for them to advise on the way forward.

On the Pomona project, council wants to create a properly engineered landfill as the dump-site has been used for the last 30 years.

The project is estimated to cost between $80 million and $100 million depending on the technology adopted.

In the 2017 budget the city set aside $2,5 million towards the design and preliminaries for the land-fill site.

Council also budgeted $3,5 million in respect of the equipment that is required to maintain the land fill site.

The waste to energy project is one of the many that council is engaged in as it seeks to turn Harare into a world class capital city.

To fund its many programmes, council crafted an investment policy- a mechanism towards mobilisation of private investments opportunities that support economic growth and sustainable development in the city.

The policy is expected to be in sync with the National Investment Policy.

Acting town clerk Josephine Ncube recently said the objectives of the policy include among other things, to provide for the implementation of the city’s investment development plan through the harmonisation of the city’s activities and programmes.

The objectives of the investment policy also include to direct or encourage investor activities to the key economic enabling sectors consistent with the development plan of the city.