MPICO Shopping Mall opens in Lilongwe October

Malawi’s commercial property listed firm, Mpico Limited, has said it  multimillion Kwacha MPICO Gateway Shopping Mall under construction in the capital  Lilongwe’s Area 47 near African Bible College is expected to open its doors to the public in October this year,

Mpico Limited managing director Peter du Plessis told reporters that the project has progressed very well, saying 70 percent in terms of construction has been completed.

“We are almost through with the construction works and what remains are mainly civil engineering works such as tiling, fixing of fire sprinklers, interior walls and a few other touches.

“Most of the space has already been taken up with Shoprite and other South African chain stores taking much of the space. What we have done is to accommodate different types of business like shops, food markets, banks, laundry so that people find everything they are looking for at the shopping complex,” said du Plessis.

The MPICO boss said the complex will also have a car parking area catering for 1,500 vehicles and some space for taxis and trucks.

A visit to the shopping complex by Nyasa Times revealed all the businesses will be under roof, meaning customers can move in between banks and shops without getting soaked during rainy season.

According to the MPICO MD, Construction works for the project are being carried out by South Africa firm Stefanutti Stocks with Malawian company Silcon doing much of the civil engineering works.

He said over K16 billion has so far been invested into the project, which started in 2010 and was expected to be completed in 2012.

Explaining the delays, du Plessis said: “We had to revise the time frame because of the challenges the country was facing some three years ago like shortage of fuel and scarcity of forex. The budget also increased significantly but with the help of our shareholders National Bank and Old Mutual, we have managed to overcome the problems.”

Covering an area of 18,000 Square Metres, the MPICO Gateway Mall will be the biggest shopping complex in Malawi, surpassing the Nico Shopping Mall in Lilongwe and Chichiri Shopping Mall in Blantyre.

The mall is strategically located along the Lilongwe-Mchinji Road so that that the shopping centre should be easily accessible to shoppers from Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, according to Mpico Limited officials.

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