THE first phase of the long-awaited Egodini mall project is ready for re-opening with at least 400 informal traders set to be allocated vending stalls, Bulawayo mayor David Coltart has said.
Coltart said indications were that the facility would be opened during the second week of February. “Construction of phase 1 has been completed. We are waiting for the signing of the lease agreement between 400 vendors and Terracotta Private Limited,” Coltart said in an interview.
“We are aiming to open in the second week of February. Once this is finalised, we will advise on other developments.”Coltart added: “Constructors are working flat out to complete the whole project. When we open phase 1, we will announce when the other phases will commence.”BCC on October 11, 2012 contracted Terracotta to redesign and redevelop Basch Street bus terminus, known as Egodini, and turn it into a multi-purpose mall under a build, operate and transfer arrangement.
The company projected a total investment of US$60 million for the project.It is now almost 11 years since the tender was awarded to the firm which has missed several deadlines.
At some point, the contractor blamed COVID-19 for disrupting civil engineering works, amid mounting pressure on the Bulawayo City Council to cancel the contract and re-tender the project.
Once complete, the mall will be Bulawayo’s second major infrastructural project in about two decades, after the Bulawayo centre shopping mall whose construction was completed in 2007.
