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Council seeks partners for Pomona biogas project

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HARARE City Council has invited bidders to set up an energy plant at its waste dumpsite at the Pomona landfill, as the local authority seeks to cash in on its waste.

HARARE City Council has invited bidders to set up an energy plant at its waste dumpsite at the Pomona landfill, as the local authority seeks to cash in on its waste.

BY XOLISANI NCUBE

Acting town clerk, Josephine Ncube said the successful bidder would be expected to turn waste into energy and earn the council extra revenue.

Chairperson of the environment committee, Councillor Herbert Gomba, said the project seeks to help the struggling local authority reduce its power bill by generating electricity from waste.

“The aim is for us to create jobs for our young people, as we create electricity for home consumption and reduce the costs that council pays to power utility Zesa. Because we have a lot of unused waste there, we hope to generate enough power to light up a compound and reduce the costs the city is paying to Zesa,” he said.

So far, the city has initiated a similar plant at Firle Sewer Treatment Works aimed at converting treated sewage of 144 megalitres to produce four megawatts of power.

The council also has plans to construct a biogas digester in Mbare to utilising vegetable waste from the Mbare Musika vegetable market.

The Mbare bio-digester and the proposed Pomona plant will not be the first in the city, as the Rural Electrification Agency has already constructed biogas plants at Harare Central Hospital and Roosevelt Girls High School.

Bio-digesters are becoming increasingly popular around the world. Nigeria’s African Women and Rural Environment (Aware) has established digesters in different communities, benefiting the environment, as well as improving the economic well-being of over 500 rural women.