Bin contract wasn’t terminated - Jospong

Management of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), owners of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, have come out to set the records straight on the matter of the one-million bin contract

According to JGC, the bin contract elapsed and was not terminated.

Addressing a large crowd of journalists during a media soiree in Accra last week, the Executive Chairman (EC) of JGC, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, explained that contrary to the impression created by some media reports that the contract was terminated for non-performance and wrongdoing, the ministry of local government and rural development only conveyed an official notification to the company that the contract had elapsed, as per some of its clauses.

Consequently, Mr Siaw Agyepong, who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL), described the said publication as “unfortunate, misleading and sheer mischief.”

According to him, the contract elapsed following the government’s inability to raise funds for the supply of the waste bins to households across the country.

He said Zoomlion has since secured a facility from Ecobank for a similar exercise known as “One bin, One Household.”

“It [the contract] was under investigation and the CID investigated it and what came out of it, nothing,” Mr Siaw Agyepong clarified.

He went on to add: “Because we have passion for doing this business and solving problems, we went to Ecobank and they gave us 10 million. Naturally it isn’t that we didn’t perform, government didn’t have money to pay. Not that it was terminated, the contract elapsed by itself after two years.

“We didn’t supply because government didn’t have money. There is no contract termination and those headlines are mischievous.”

Mr Siaw Agyepong said the government was yet to serve them with a letter indicating its lack of interest in the project anymore.

He disclosed that the long-term objective of Zoomlion was to ensure the establishment of a “waste-to-energy plant.”

That when done, he said, will lead to the total utilisation of waste in the country in the most economical way.

“Moving towards this direction undoubtedly calls for a major financial support from government. This is certainly the direction Zoomlion desires to go with active support of the Government of Ghana.”

This, he intoned, will enable the country control the quantity of waste dumped at landfills which sites themselves are difficult to acquire, he stated.

The executive chairman of JGC also used the opportunity to make a passionate appeal to the media to help in the fight for environmental cleanliness.

In this regard, he appealed to the media to play a more active role by partnering players in the waste management space to educate the citizenry on the need to keep their environs clean at all times.

Mr Siaw Agyepong also enumerated contributions of his group of companies to the Ghanaian economy.

He said the JGC has evolved into a multi-pronged organisation, helping to address national problems ranging from waste management, insurance, farming, compositing, logistics etc.

He revealed that over 250,000 workforce have benefitted from the operations of JGC.

“Of this number Zoomlion engages about 85,000 persons nationwide, he disclosed.