By Tom Mapham

Billion Group boss Sisa Ngebulana on Thursday came out guns blazing following a report commissioned by Buffalo City Municipality that marked a mall proposal in Gonubie narrowly in front of his own project next to Hemingway’s Casino.

Ngebulana disputed the findings that rated Gonubie as having equal potential to his project, where earthworks began three weeks ago in preparation for East London’s first regional mall. “A mall at Hemingway’s will be best for East London. Gonubie could work in the future, but the current customer base is centred around Hemingway’s.”

The independent study into the potential of seven different properties around the city caused rumbles in business and government when its findings were made public. It rated Atterbury Cape’s site, bordering the N2 and the Gonubie offramp, just ahead of the Billion Group’s. But in the end it recommended both.

Atterbury Cape had shelved plans for its mall. But the Billion Group’s has grown in recent weeks to include 72000m² of retail space. Ngebulana estimated that the finished building would be worth around R1,6 billion.

To provide enough space for the four-storey mall, the developers plan to replace the existing access road with one closer to the neighbouring Spoornet property. The developers have bought the existing road, Two Rivers Drive, from BCM.

Earthworks for this project are under way. Contractor Brian Reynolds said his team was working “12 hours a day, seven days a week” to meet the deadline in three weeks’ time.

Ngebulana confirmed that no time would be wasted during the construction process. “We have broken ground and we are going ahead aggressively.”

But local residents’ concerns may hamper progress. Several objections have been lodged to the sale of municipal land to the Billion Group. Some residents were concerned that the road would be closed.

BCM director of development planning Craig Sam confirmed that this was not the case. “The road will not be closed for a single day,” he said.

One objector from Dorchester Heights was concerned that the land had been bought “behind closed doors”, through private treaty. “I have waited five years for a chance to buy a piece of land but I have to do so through public treaty,” said Deirdre McMenamin.

The objections are currently being considered by Sam’s department.

The study of current and future retail development predicted steady growth in retail demand in the region. Currently, consumers spend R2,3bn on retail goods bought from shops within East London. The report predicts that will double over the next decade.

Daily Dispatch