Thumps up to construction of Mall of Zimbabwe: Masunda

He said the existing shopping malls in the Borrowdale area were failing to meet the expectations of the “fairly affluent residents”.
“This is a significant development for Harare and Zimbabwe. It will cater for the needs of surrounding upmarket suburbs of Rolf Valley, Borrowdale West, Ballantyne Park, Chisipite, Pomona, Greystone Park and Gunhill.
“At the moment there is congestion at Sam Levy’s. We need to decongest that area,” he said.
Mr Masunda said that the country’s biggest mall and Africa’s second biggest would help decongest Samy Levy’s Village and also bring competition to the shop rentals.
He said the Mall of Zimbabwe “fits snuggly” into all other developments in the area, which include upmarket residential properties, Dandaro Village and the Old Mutual office complex being developed on the Borrowdale Race Course.
His comments come hardly a week after the city’s environment management committee approved the project, which now awaits the concurrence of the full council.
Environment Management Committee chair, Clr Stewart Mutizwa, said the Mall of Zimbabwe would go a long way in sprucing the city’s image as it endeavours to be a World Class City by 2025.
Chairman of the business committee, Clr Thomas Muzuva, said councillors had no power to stall the development of national projects.
“It’s a national project. The project has been approved by Cabinet. Council is a substructure of central Government. We cannot be seen going against national policies.
“Council has no power over Cabinet decisions. We cannot fight Cabinet,” he said.
He said the land allocated for the construction of the mall was part of the payment to Augur Investments for the construction of the Airport Road — yet another national project.
“We agreed to pay Augur Investments with land on the agreement that Government would compensate us with land elsewhere.
All that has not changed and why should we stand in the way of the project,” he said.
The construction of the mall has been viewed in positive light as it sells Zimbabwe as a healthy investment centre. The project is expected to decongest the CBD.
Estimates indicate that up to 4 000 people would be employed at the mall that has so far attracted big retailers such as Pick n Pay, Mr Price, Woolworths among other big brands.
The company contracted to construct the mall McComirmick Property Development has built 49 other malls worth US$1 billion worldwide.