MSOGWABA- Rushing to town to stand in long queues during busy public holidays and Christmas will soon be history for the local people as development of the Emoyeni Mall project is in order.

From an exclusive interview with the founder and co-owner of the 35 000m² mall Mr Dominic Mdluli, this newspaper learnt that the construction had created more than a 1 000 jobs with more than 700 opportunities created for the previously unemployed people.

He added that local subcontractors had also immensely benefited from the project.
“They were also empowered in terms of health and safety with some using their CCs for the very first time,” he said.

Other jobs created included that of women selling food, drinks and fruit to the contractors nearby the site.

“The people are happy. This construction site has taken them from zero to hero. This is just the beginning, good things are yet to come,” said Mdluli.

“I’m also proud to say we were able to resolve issues of employment and their payments with them,” he said. He added that a filling station and a taxi rank were also to be built on the mall premises.

When asked if the developers were able to resolved the dispute between some of the families who initially objected to moving off the land earmarked for the development of the mall earlier this year, Mdluli said,

“Those people were dearly compensated and have built themselves mansions not far from the mall.”

The mall will house well-known retailers such as Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Cashbuild, Truworths, Pep Stores, Milady’s, banks, food outlets, coffee shops, and many more facilities. The mall is scheduled to open by April 2015.

The mall’s partners are Jacky Poeng and the McCormick Property Group.