Largest shopping centre formally opens – WATCH

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Largest shopping centre formally opens – WATCH

9:31 CAT | 16 Nov 2017

TVM

The Mayor of Maputo, David Simango, on Wednesday formally opened Baia Mall, which will be the largest shopping centre in Mozambique.

Built on the Maputo coast road, the Mall covers 30,000 square metres, and has space for over 100 shops and restaurants. To date 85 per cent of the spaces available have been rented – although very few are currently open to the public.

Of these, the largest is the Maputo branch of the South African supermarket chain “Game”. Other South African chain stores that are setting up branches in Baia Mall include Premier Superspar, Woolworths and Mr Price. No less than five Mozambican commercial banks intend to set up branches there, and there will also be a hotel belonging to the Southern Sun group. The Mall car park can hold 900 vehicles.

The Mall managers claim that Baia Mall will generate about 2,000 direct jobs, and many more indirect jobs in the whole value chain supporting the shopping centre. 95 per cent of these jobs are expected to go to Mozambicans.

The partners in the Mall are the Automobile and Touring Club of Mozambique (ATCM), which holds the rights to the land, the South African private equity company Actis (which holds 80 per cent of the shares), and the real estate company RPP Development (which holds the other 20 per cent). The total investment in the mall is put at 96 million US dollars.

According to the chairperson of ATCM, Antonio Marques, ownership of the mall will be gradually transferred to ATCM so that, after 50 years, it will own 100 per cent of the undertaking.

Management of the Mall has been farmed out to Capital Land Asset Management, a company formed in 2007 which manages real estate throughout southern Africa.

At the ceremony, Simango declared that the Mall “fills us with pride and with hope for better days to come”.

He invited other companies to follow the example of Actis and RPP Development and invest in Maputo.