Otumfuo opens Kumasi City Mall on Thursday

Journalists in Kumasi were last Thursday conducted round the newly constructed Kumasi City Mall (KCM), during which they were briefed on how the mall will operate when it is eventually opened to the public on Thursday, April 20, 2017.

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who cut the sod for the commencement of the project on June 6, 2014, will perform the formal opening of the US$95-million KCM on May 10, 2017.

Kumasi’s first modern shopping mall is located on 15.4 acres at the confluence of the Lake Road, the Yaa Asantewaa Road, and the Hudson Street at Asokwa.

It has lettable space of 18,500 square metres, with potential for further expansion of up to 10,000 square metres.

Standards

The Chairman of the board of the KCM, Mr Kofi Sekyere, said the developer, Delico Property Investments Ghana Limited, was assiduously pursuing an agenda of setting an entirely new standard in comparative one-stop destination shopping in Ghana.

He said within a period of four years, the company’s footprints were boldly visible.

The KCM is the third straight development by Delico, coming after the West Hills Mall (2014) and the Achimota Retail Centre (2015), both in Accra.

“Aside from the obvious benefits, such as the generation of employment for thousands in the Kumasi metropolis, residents of Kumasi and its wider catchment area can now access both their basic necessities, as well as luxuries, from underneath one roof — a convenience factor which has eluded this great city for ages,” he stated.

Apart from the convenience which a world-class mall introduced into the shopping life of the people of Kumasi, Mr Sekyere expressed excitement about the potential impact of the multi-million-dollar investment on Kumasi’s local economy, lifestyle, and business in general.

“Both the construction and trading stages of this project have generated considerable employment avenues for the youth in Kumasi. What is most desirable now is for the local business community to position itself strategically enough to take full advantage of the myriad of opportunities brought by the Mall,” he added.

Facility

The Development Manager for the project, Mr Roux Gerber, who conducted journalists round, said apart from the mall’s balanced tenant mix, unique design principles were incorporated in the architecture and its aesthetic designs to give the facility an ability to deliver on the aspirations, lifestyle and social demands of the average Kumasi shopper and patron.

“Of all the malls in Ghana, the KCM is unique in many ways and one of its rare qualities is that it does not only have a massive parking but the biggest basement parking in Ghana,” he indicated.

The KCM is enclosed at its extreme ends, which house the two main anchor tenants, retail giants Shoprite and Game. It has a semi-enclosed midsection where a food court is located.

Opportunities

The construction phase of the project gave direct employment to nearly 1,000 Ghanaians and engaged mostly Ghanaian sub-contractors who used local artisans, builders, steel and wood workers.

Besides the mall management staff, no less than 600 workers, mostly from neighbouring communities in Kumasi, are expected to be employed by the various tenants who will operate in the mall.

Developer

The mall is a development owned by Delico Kumasi Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Delico Property Investments Ghana Limited, the same group which owns the Achimota Retail Centre and is the majority shareholder of the West Hills Mall.

Delico Property Investments Ghana Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delico Property Developments Limited, Mauritius — a joint venture between AttAfrica Limited, Mauritius, and Nasek Investments Limited (Nasek), a Ghanaian controlled entity in Mauritius.

AttAfrica is the majority shareholder in the Accra Mall and is a leading retail property investor in Africa, with investments in Zambia and Mozambique. Its shareholders own several shopping malls across South Africa.

Nasek’s affiliated company in Ghana, Sandpark Properties Limited, is developing a luxury gated residential complex a few metres away from the West Hills Mall and is also the development manager for the construction of Ecobank’s head office at Ridge, Accra.