HARARE City Council (HCC) has made new demands to Nanotech Technologies which it engaged to install cost-efficient water treatment equipment at the Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant.
The US$5,4 million project, which was touted as a game-changer to the city’s perennial water challenges, has stalled, with equipment lying idle at Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant three years after it was purchased.
In a letter dated September 6 this year, acting town clerk Phakamile Mabhena Moyo said the company was in breach of contract because it did not build a school and provide council with a car.
“In terms of clause 6.2.11 of the memorandum of understanding, you were supposed to supply a brand new Nissan NP300 vehicle as part of your obligations under the agreement,” the letter read in part.
“While it is acknowledged that you submitted a Gantt Chart, which indicated that construction on the site shall commence on May 8, 2023, to date no progress has been made towards the construction of a council infant school.”
However, through its lawyers Honey and Blanckenberg, Nanotech accused HCC of inserting clauses which were not part of the initial contract.
“Your paragraph 4 is manifestly perplexing in that it makes mention of the ‘supply’ of a brand new NP300 vehicle obligations under the agreement,” the lawyers submitted in a letter dated September 23.
“The contract that we have in our possession unequivocally speaks to a pilot project to introduce alternative water treatment technologies and techniques and/or chemicals at Morton Jaffray’s Water Treatment Works,
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“There is absolutely no mention of supply of motor vehicles, that could objectively be surprising given the primary nature and character of this contract.
“This purported contractual obligation will possibly appear from the document that you rely upon, but which is unknown by our client.”
The lawyers said “the assertion of this obligation smacks of impropriety and is very concerning”.
“For record purposes, out of an abundance of caution, the so-called breach on account of the non-supply of a motor vehicle is categorically rejected.”
The letter added: “Even more concerning is the fact that you mention that the contract that you apparently rely upon speaks of the construction of the council infant school, which is entirely divorced from the terms and conditions of the contract which is in our possession and has been signed.”
Mabhena Moyo said he sent the letter to the city’s legal department.
“They are studying it. So I cannot give more information now,” he said.
Nanotech Water Solutions was awarded a contract by City of Harare to supply, install, commission, operate and maintain chlorine dioxide water treatment technology.
The contract was formalised in a memorandum of agreement signed on May 12, 2020 after successful plant trials in February 2019.
The project has faced significant delays due to financial disagreements and procedural missteps.
The contract stipulated payments to be made in arrears in three equal monthly instalments of US$1,79 million.
However, a variation order was later agreed upon, changing the payment structure to two equal instalments of US$2,685 million.
The audit report reveals that an impasse arose over the acquittal of US$1 068 013,51 advanced to Nanotech Water Solutions.
Despite numerous communications, the city’s finance department has not processed further payments, citing the need for proper acquittals.
Nanotech, in its defence, has pointed out that the project falls under engineering, procurement, construction and financing contracts, which involve complex works that do not always require traditional bills of entry for acquittal.
Instead, it argues that acquittals are only needed at the end of the project, as per industry standards.
