• LUSAKA Mayor Mulenga Sata (left) being attended to by Shoprite front end controller Brandina Namonje (right) as Shoprite general manager Charles Bota (in grey jacket) unpacks the items Mr Sata bought. This was at the newly-opened Shoprite branch at Twin Palm Shopping Mall in Lusaka, which Mr Sata officially opened yesterday. Picture by CHUSA SICHONE.

By HELEN ZULU
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A US$10 million shopping mall with 26 stores, which have collectively created 500 permanent jobs, has officially opened in Lusaka.
Twin Palm Shopping Mall, which has been developed by PMTP Zambia and is being managed by Knight Frank Zambia, was officially opened yesterday by Lusaka Mayor Mulenga Sata.
In his speech, Mr Sata said the opening of Twin Palm Shopping Mall was in line with Government’s policy to create more jobs and add value to the lives of the citizens.
Mr Sata said the mall gave sound confidence to investors in the strength and growth of the Zambian economy and that investing in Zambia made good business sense.

He said the mall presented yet another opportunity to local suppliers to grow their businesses by supplying the mall with goods and services.
“Twin Palm Mall will decongest the city and the central business district.  I am reliably informed that Shoprite in this mall will stock 65 per cent of local products, this presents a great opportunity for local suppliers, even of small and medium nature to grow their business by supporting and delivering to this mall with resultant jobs created,” he said.
Earlier, Knight Frank Zambia managing director Tim Wale said increased investments in the retail sector through the development of amenities such as shopping malls would continue to provide employment opportunities and uplift communities in Zambia.
Mr Wale said with continued expansion of Lusaka and increase in population, the provision of retail facilities to communities would also contribute to decongestion of town and the city centres.
He said 200 jobs were created as a result of the development of the shopping mall during the two-year construction phase.
The mall was financed by First National Bank (FNB) Zambia and developed over a period of two years with phase one of the mall taking up 7,500 square metres and plans to develop phase two of the development which will add another 4,000 square metres.
FNB chief executive officer Van Zyl said real estate and property financing remained the bank’s focus areas and that it provided property finance solutions in all major regional business centres were it had footprint.
As the anchor tenant, Shoprite Stores has invested US$5 million in the procurement of facilities and the products and created 130 jobs.