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News Article - Development
Work on R1,2bn mega-mall on track for late 2009 opening
Posted on: Monday, 30 July 2007. Article source: Eastern Cape Business News
By Deon Van Der Merwe East London Correspondent
WORK on a major Border-Kei regional shopping mega-mall is gaining momentum, with the arrival of special heavy equipment at the 70 000 square metre site for the R1,2-billion development.
The equipment will be used to drive more than 1 000 concrete foundation pilings 18 metres into the earth for the Hemingways Shopping Mall.
With over 140 000m of earthworks completed next to the Hemingways Hotel/Casino complex, Sisa Ngebulanas Billion Property Groups project director, James Steward, said brick and mortar work would start next month and that traders could expect to open by late 2009.
Steward said the Hemingways Mall would be twice the size of Greenacres in Port Elizabeth. Most of the large national retail groups, food and groceries, clothing, furniture, home appliances, sporting goods and financial houses and the like had already signed as tenants.
Describing the piling of foundations as Phase Two of the project, Steward said equipment-driven on-site work so far had created about 100 new jobs.
However, we are now in the final stages of negotiating the appointment of the major building contractor for the brick and mortar work. When that starts, by mid-August, the on-site labour force will increase to around 1 200, with a further 2 400 off-site jobs linked directly to this project.
Steward said all outside professional contractors engaged by the Billion group, such as quantity surveyors and engineers, had established local offices.
Our chief executive officer, Sisa Ngebulana, grew up in Mthatha and is passionate about this region. But we do face some sub-contracting problems, not because we cannot source the relevant contractors locally, but because they are far too busy.
Like the rest of South Africa, which is experiencing a building boom, its difficult to find contractors locally to do stuff like shopfitting, ceilings and partitions, roofing, air conditions and so on. We might have to go outside the area, but will encourage service providers to link up with local firms.
Steward also confirmed that development of the groups R500-million 30 000m Mdantsane Shopping Mall remained on schedule.
It has also has attracted major groups and banks as tenants.
WORK on a major Border-Kei regional shopping mega-mall is gaining momentum, with the arrival of special heavy equipment at the 70 000 square metre site for the R1,2-billion development.
The equipment will be used to drive more than 1 000 concrete foundation pilings 18 metres into the earth for the Hemingways Shopping Mall.
With over 140 000m of earthworks completed next to the Hemingways Hotel/Casino complex, Sisa Ngebulanas Billion Property Groups project director, James Steward, said brick and mortar work would start next month and that traders could expect to open by late 2009.
Steward said the Hemingways Mall would be twice the size of Greenacres in Port Elizabeth. Most of the large national retail groups, food and groceries, clothing, furniture, home appliances, sporting goods and financial houses and the like had already signed as tenants.
Describing the piling of foundations as Phase Two of the project, Steward said equipment-driven on-site work so far had created about 100 new jobs.
However, we are now in the final stages of negotiating the appointment of the major building contractor for the brick and mortar work. When that starts, by mid-August, the on-site labour force will increase to around 1 200, with a further 2 400 off-site jobs linked directly to this project.
Steward said all outside professional contractors engaged by the Billion group, such as quantity surveyors and engineers, had established local offices.
Our chief executive officer, Sisa Ngebulana, grew up in Mthatha and is passionate about this region. But we do face some sub-contracting problems, not because we cannot source the relevant contractors locally, but because they are far too busy.
Like the rest of South Africa, which is experiencing a building boom, its difficult to find contractors locally to do stuff like shopfitting, ceilings and partitions, roofing, air conditions and so on. We might have to go outside the area, but will encourage service providers to link up with local firms.
Steward also confirmed that development of the groups R500-million 30 000m Mdantsane Shopping Mall remained on schedule.
It has also has attracted major groups and banks as tenants.
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