PROJECT UPDATES
Opening of Lobatse Junction – a premier shopping and transport hot spot
By Brett Marlin
It is not often that one gets a Minister to open a shopping centre , but we were far luckier than that as we had three Ministers and many other dignitaries who attended the official opening on 21 October .
The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development and Member of Parliament for Lobatse , Honourable Dr . Thapelo Matsheka , who officiated over the groundbreaking ceremony agreed to once again officiate over the centre opening .
As mentioned at the opening , it was really refreshing to have a local authority , The Lobatse Town Council , who was so proactive and helpful in assisting us to get past all the red tape in the issuance of occupation permit and trading licences . Mr Pandor , you can really be proud of your team .
In addition , we were honoured to have the following signatories attend the opening :
• The Minister of Health and Wellness Honourable Dr . Edwin Dikoloti
• Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Honourable Eric Molale
• His Worship the Mayor of Lobatse , Honourable Essop Pandor
• Town Clerk for Lobatse Town Council , Mr Nelson Mogapi
• Deputy District Commissioner for Lobatse Town Council , Mrs Kolobetso Sejakgomo
The groundbreaking ceremony was held on 21 November 2019 , which seems like such a long time ago , but one needs to bear in mind that not only did we develop the centre but also had to relocate the bus and taxi rank , redevelop that area , move them to the new rank and then only start the development of the centre . On top of this was the Covid lockdown , two periods of the site being closed for Covid cases on site , some of our consultants not being able to come to site and the massive material shortages that we experienced over the last year . It really has been trying times .
However , it was quite amazing how our contractor , Sharps Construction , and all our subcontractors managed to minimise the delays and get the centre open only 30 days after the initial planned opening date .
A very big thank you to our partners in this development , Emre and Aflot Botswana , who were the instigators of the project and PrimeTime Property Holdings Limited , the listed property fund who will become the eventual owners of the mall .
Getting to where we are today is due to the fantastic efforts of our consultants and contractors : TCRPV – Architects ADA Consulting Engineers – Civil and structural engineers EthiQS – Quantity surveyors Scales and Associates – Electrical engineers Sharps Construction Bokone Electrical Climate Control HHP Interiors Mmika Selei , our project manager , who pulled all the contractors , consultants and tenants together . Well done , Mmika !
Most importantly , thank you to our tenants - Spar , Tops , Ok Furnishers , FNB , Clicks , Options , Mr Price , Studio 88 , Pep , Ackermans , Vision Sports , JB Sports , Botswana Life , KFC , Debonairs , Lobatse restaurant and Bahumi , as well as all the smaller tenants that are too numerous to mention here .
ISSUE 48 - DECEMBER 2021 3