President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique has opened the Pemba Shopping, a large shopping mall in the city of Pemba, capital of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The $20 million mall is the latest initiative in Mozambique of the South African supermarket chain Shoprite and its partners, TradeHold Africa and the Atterbury Group, according to a report by STV on Wednesday.

The complex covers an area of 3,500 square metres and the anchor shop in the mall is the Pemba branch of Shoprite, and alongside it are a range of smaller, mostly local shops.

Nyusi said that the new mall slots into the government’s commercial policy and strategy, seeking to build up a competitive retail sector, diversifying the supply of goods for consumers in Cabo Delgado.

“This initiative will do justice to the increase in production recorded in the current agricultural season. Shortly we hope to see products grown in the districts of this province and in other parts of the country on sale here” the president said.

President Nyusi added that that this was already the case with Shoprite supermarkets in other Mozambican cities, such as Maputo, Beira, Nampula and Tete where local produce was on sale.

“Clients in Pemba should be able to consume fresh produce from Cabo Delgado purchased in this supermarket”, Nyusi said.

“Hotels and restaurants should use this mall as one of the sources for their supplies” Nyusi said stressing the recent economic growth in Cabo Delgado resulting from major investments, notably the offshore natural gas discoveries in the Rovuma Basin.

Shoprite, South Africa’s food retailer has expanded from eight poorly performing stores worth $1.2 million in 1979 to become Africa’s largest retail chain, worth $8.5 billion in recent times.

Source: Journal du Cameroun