$25m shopping mall to be built in Accra

Accra Oct.6, GNA - An agreement of share subscription was on Wednesday signed to kick-start a 25 million dollars shopping mall to be built in Accra.

The Accra Mall, a joint development between the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) and Inter City Hotels Limited in Ghana would be located on the corner of the Spintex Road and the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange.

Mr Joseph Owusu Akyaw, Chairman, Inter-City Hotels Limited, said the shopping centre would have 20,000 square metres of retail space. "The state of the art development would be enclosed and be fully air-conditioned with parking for over 1,000 cars. For Ghanaians, it will provide a totally new lifestyle of a one-stop shopping complex as seen in the United States, Europe and South Africa," Mr Owusu Akyaw said.

The Accra mall would showcase three of South Africa's foremost retail giants: Shoprite/Checkers, which is Africa's largest food retailer, Massmart/Game, a department store operating in six countries and Nu-Metro, an international multiplex cinema operator. Mr Owusu Akyaw said there would also be Ghanaian retailers and a variety of food courts to give Ghanaians a complete and exciting shopping experience.

He said the construction would take 15 months and would commence before the end of the year.

ACTIS, the investment arm of CDC, is the investment principal. Mr Dale Ramsden, Head of Property, ACTIS, West Africa, said that the mall would be professionally managed to help maintain international standards.

Mr Dominic Adu, Investment Principal, Ghana, said Ghana was selected for the project because of the present stability in the economy.

"We have confidence in the macro-economic situation in the country" and the mall has job creation potential and would also attract other investors to invest in Ghana.

" The development of the mall would significantly encourage local production of goods and services, creating over 5,000 jobs in the process," he said.

Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Modernization of the Capital City, said apart from acting as a tourist destination and boosting investment in Ghana, the mall would be a landmark in the capital city.

He said it would further help more of Ghanaian farmers to go into agro-processing, as a lot of quality food stuffs would be required for sale.

He expressed the hope that the mall would send out positive signals to other investors

Dr Samuel Nii Noi Ashong, Minister of State, Finance and Economic Planning, said the mall would help boost the economy and commended the bold initiative of CDC and Inter-City Hotels.

Mr Kwesi Abeasi, Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion Council, said the project was an indication that Ghana was getting some share of investments.