Bulawayo needs a Pomona-style facility, says Coltart, but cost will decide it
Bulawayo’s mayor has told Geo Pomona the city needs a waste facility like the one it runs in Harare, but said whether a deal is reached depend on two questions: what will it cost, and can residents afford it?
David Coltart led a delegation including the deputy mayor, the town clerk, councillors and senior council officials on a tour of the Pomona site on Thursday, where Geo Pomona Waste Management showed how it handles waste, sorting operation included.
“There’s no doubt that Bulawayo needs a facility like this,” Coltart said. “The critical thing for us, though, is what will it cost, and is it affordable for us?”
The local authority has been under pressure from local government minister Daniel Garwe to award its waste management tender to Geo Pomona over two other bidders it shortlisted.
Talks between the council and Geo Pomona have started, Coltart said, and a technical team has already been to Harare. Thursday was the turn of councillors and management to see the site for themselves.
The next stage, the mayor said, is “understanding the finances, understanding with precision what a company like Geo Pomona can offer us.”
Coltart stopped short of any commitment. The council was “not at all closed to a contract”, he said, but he has no authority to bind the city in such a conversation and legal processes must be followed first.
“The issue for us is what is on offer, what will it cost the residents of Bulawayo, and how will we afford to pay for it.” Economies of scale, he added, would be central to their decision-making.
He said the company had “demonstrated that they do have the capacity in sorting”, but that the council would “watch with great interest” what Geo Pomona does with processing and waste-to-energy conversion. The waste-to-energy plant is planned and is not yet operating.
For its part, Geo Pomona said Pomona was an uncontrolled dumpsite for 37 years until it took over in April 2022 and began running it as a managed site, with a sorting plant commissioned on June 5, 2025, and a water treatment plant.
It says the sorting plant can handle up to 1,080 tonnes a day.
The company said it had handled a cumulative 614,144.47 tonnes of waste by October 26, 2026: 435,331.23 tonnes from illegal dumps, 143,160.24 tonnes from door-to-door collection and 35,653 tonnes from skip bins.
It employs 1,514 people, more than half of them women, and the site also houses a FIFA-certified soccer pitch, tennis and basketball courts, changing rooms and a restaurant, The Sprout.
Geo Pomona said it wants to share the skills of its local engineers with councils across Zimbabwe and to take its model to other African countries and beyond.
The company said it remains open to further talks with Bulawayo. *_-ZimLive_*
