The Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) says its US$20 million mall under construction at the Exhibition Park in Harare has reached 75 percent completion.
ZAS expects the construction programme to be fully completed by the October 2024 deadline.
The project is part of ZAS’ long-term plan to modernise and diversify its facilities. The Exhibition Park houses one of Zimbabwe’s prime exhibition events, the Zimbabwe Agriculture Show.
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According to ZAS, the shopping complex is in line with the masterplan of the showground that will guide all future growth and development.
Construction of the shopping mall started last year soon after the 113th edition of the annual agriculture exhibition.
ZAS chief executive officer Dr Andrew Matibiri said in an interview that “the construction of the shopping mall is now heading towards completion, as the project is now over 75 percent complete and the target is to have it open in October this year”.
“What is left now mostly are the internal works . . . and the car park is now being finalised.”
The mall comprises space to be occupied by one of the upmarket quick service restaurants in the country.
Dr Matibiri said the food outlet would open its doors to the public by the time this year’s edition of the agriculture show starts.
The 114th edition of the annual event is scheduled to be held from August 26 to August 31, 2024, under the theme, “Cultivating Prosperity. Growing Business. Innovation for Change. Nurturing our Future”.
“So far, the area uptake, as of Tuesday, out of the 76 000 square metres of the available exhibition space, 66 000 square metres have been taken up. And compared to last year during the same period, this is much better.” Last year, Dr Matibiri said the show closed with four participating other nations.
This year at least seven other countries are expected to participate in the exhibition.
“There are seven foreign participants and visitors from China, Germany, Japan, Zambia, Malawi, Eswatini and Botswana. In 2023, there were four,” he said.
The agriculture sector is one of the major economic mainstays anchoring Zimbabwe’s macro-economic growth which last year grew by an estimated 4,5 percent from 6,5 percent in 2022.
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