By ASANDA NINI

Council Reporter

A SOD turning ceremony to officially mark the multimillion rand expansion and renovation of King William’s Town’s Metlife Mall will take place on Friday.

The R150-million refurbishment to the mall built in the 1990s will result in it being one of the biggest regional shopping centres in the province.

The refurbishments will see the mall almost doubling its trading area from 17000m² to 30000m².

By December, its completion date, the centre will welcome, in addition to the current anchor tenant Checkers Hyper, a new anchor in Game Stores, a couple of commercial banks and up to five retail brands in the Foschini group of stores.

The centre is also expected to boast 1000 undercover and ground level parking bays to accommodate the envisaged increase in shoppers.

After presenting their plans to the Buffalo City Metro’s mayoral committee on November 1 last year, owners Metropolitan Life, were upbeat about the development saying it will bring a new chapter to retail shopping in the area.

Vuyani Hako, managing director of Metropolitan Property Services, yesterday said the development, which would bring job relief for thousands of locals, would bring more shopping convenience to residents of the region who normally travel to East London to access certain stores.

“Our board of directors looked at the area’s growth potential and saw the need to beef up and improve our facility so that we bring shopping convenience to the people of King William’s Town and its many surroundings.”

Construction work is expected to start on Friday and, according to Hako, 1200 temporary jobs would be created during this period.

“Once the centre is operational, we will have 97 permanent job opportunities created by the arrival of Game Stores, 153 permanent jobs at the Foschini group shops, 48 permanent job opportunities created by small shops, 121 spin-off jobs and 20 other informal jobs,” Hako said.

He added that “we will make sure most if not all of those jobs created are given to and benefit local people and thus improve their socio-economic conditions”.

Speaking to the Daily Dispatch recently, development manager Mzoli Ngcawuzele of the Cape Town-based Mzoli Properties, said the centre revamp would make it one of the best shopping malls in the province, with “very high specifications and attractive finishings”.

“This investment is definitely good news and long overdue for the region’s shopping experience,” Ngcawuzele said. — This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: Daily Dispatch