Mathias Ringa
6 May 2008
Nairobi — The ministry of Local Government will now make the final decision on whether an Italian company will be awarded the tender to clean up Mombasa.
During the weekend, deputy mayor John Mcharo said the matter had been referred to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, who is also in charge of local government.
"At least 30 civic leaders are divided over whether Jacorossi Imprese should be given the responsibility of cleaning the town or not," he said.
But whatever the ministry decides, councillors will have no alternative but to support it, Mr Mcharo told journalists.
Mombasa mayor Ahmed Abubakar Mohdhar has strongly opposed the council's plans to award the Sh1.5 billion contract to Jacorossi and has said the contract should be tendered afresh.
This is supported by Tourism minister and Mvita MP, Najib Balala.
Challenge
But a group of councillors led by Mr Taufiq Balala have been backing Jacorossi Imprese, saying the firm has the capacity to deal with the solid waste challenge in the town.
Mr Balala argues that the local authority lacks the financial muscle, equipment and expertise necessary to manage the waste.
Local hoteliers and the business community led by Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association chairman, Kuldip Sondhi, have also been lobbying for the Italian company to be awarded the tender.
Jacorossi Imprese representative, Carlo Wageningen, last month said the firm was planning to invest over Sh1 billion in building two land fields and acquiring 110 garbage collection trucks among other facilities to improve the cleanliness of the town.
Mr Wageningen said the venture would employ 1,400 people, including council workers.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
