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$12 Million mall to be built in Cowdray Park

by Staff Reporter
08 Apr 2017 at 07:51hrs | Views
SAI Enterprises, a consumer retail chain which employs about 1 500 people in Bulawayo, has invested about $12 million towards the construction of a shopping complex in the city's high density suburb of Cowdray Park.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Sai Enterprises proprietor Mr Raj Modi said construction of the multi-purpose mall would begin soon and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa would be the guest of honour at the ground breaking ceremony tomorrow.

"We are putting up a shopping mall in Cowdray Park. The ground breaking ceremony will take place on Sunday, the 9th of April. Honourable Vice President Mnangagwa will be the guest of honour at the ground breaking ceremony to be attended by officials from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the mayor and several other dignitaries," he said.

"We have invested about $12 million for the shopping mall that will have 49 shops and a main supermarket."

The first phase of the proposed shopping mall will comprise of the main supermarket whose construction is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

"The second phase of the project is expected to be complete by June next year," said the Bulawayo business tycoon who also owns a beverages outlet, The Wholesale Centre Liquor Hub.

Asked why he had chosen to build the shopping mall in Cowdray Park, Mr Modi said:

"We always believe we should go where people are instead of people following where we are. I think it is a good thing to go where people are. I was asked a similar question in the 1990s when I built the Bellevue Complex."

The Bellevue shopping property now houses one of the leading and fastest growing supermarkets owned by Choppies Enterprises.

The multi-million dollar complex will also house banks, medical service centre, fast foods and parking bays.

Mr Modi said Sai Enterprises was also developing a one kilometre road from the main road in Cowdray Park to the site and this was being done through a Public-Private Partnership with the Bulawayo City Council.

As part of their social responsibility programme, he said, they were constructing a road network of about 500 metres from the nearby Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church to the mall.

Mr Modi said going forward they have plans to extend their business tentacles by building a private school in Bulawayo on a piece of land that has already been designated by the City Council.

Source - Chronicle