Harare City’s Biogas Digester Deal That Never Was 

Harare City’s Biogas Digester Deal That Never Was

Brian Rungano Temba

CCC-run Harare City has admitted to losing over US$200 000 after a contracted company failed to deliver on a biogas digester which was believed to have been planned for Mbare.
Acting Town Clerk Phakamile Mabhena confirmed this during a presentation before the Parliamentary Portfolio on Energy and Power Development.
He said the contract with Synlak (Pvt) Ltd was terminated after they failed to complete the US$465 290 project.
“The contractor failed to rectify the breach, leaving the council with no option, but to cancel the contract.
Mabhena said he had written to the contractor on January 2, 2018, advising him of the cancellation of the contract.
“The city architect carried out an assessment of the work done against payments made, which established that the total value of the work done was US$243 535, suggesting an overpayment of US$221 755.”
“(However), the contractor failed to perform his obligations at the agreed timelines and the implementation period was extended by mutual consent.
“The contractor was paid in full (US$465 290) for the execution of the contract between the period September 17, 2015, to June 17, 2016,” he said.
Despite the revised timelines the contractor still failed to fulfil the contract.
The Mbare biogas digester was a project launched in December 2013 after Harare received a grant from the European Union.
The grant was under the non-State actors’ funding to construct a 100-kilowatt biogas project in Mbare.
It was meant to convert vegetable waste from the Mbare Musika vegetable market into biogas.