Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye summoned members of cabinet to discuss a score of issues including the fast tracking of a proposed plan to build a modern shopping mall at the site of former Bujumbura Central Market that was mysteriously burnt in 2013.
'The Council of Ministers met this morning to analyze, among other issues, the ABEF's request to government to build a large shopping center on the site of the former central market in Bujumbura,' the Burundi Presidency said early Wednesday.
ABEF or simply l'Association des Banques et Etablissements Financiers (Association of Banks and Financial Institutions) submitted a proposal to the government seeking to prop up a giant shopping mall instead of a market.
On January 27, 2013, residents of Bujumbura commercial city woke up to utter shock and disbelief as columns of thick smoke scaled the skies â€" the Central market was in flames- the fire broke out at 6.30 am in ward 4 in a stand which contained clothes and electronic equipment (TV and DVD).
Fire fighters, security and the city dwellers tried to stop the fire but were unsuccessful because they were overwhelmed by the scale of the flames. The market built in 1994 on a 3-hectare plot, had more or less 3,000 operational stands with nearly 7,000 occupants. It was considered the lifeblood of the national economy.
Seven years later the scars of this incident are still visible.
Since 2014, the government of Burundi has been attempting to build a new market but somehow along the way the process keeps collapsing. The international invitation to tender has not yielded the expected results.
In September 2018, cabinet adopted a memorandum of understanding for the construction of this economic infrastructure. A Chinese company Jiangxi Jianglian International Engineering won a contract.
Previous Proposals
In 2016, a cabinet meeting was held and three options had been considered by an ad hoc committee, which was to take into account the role played by the central market and the missions that would be assigned to the new infrastructure.
This involves the construction of this large center, the reconstruction of the old infrastructure and the transfer of the former central market in its current state to a private operator.
'The first option relating to the construction of a mall is adopted,' a government official Philippe Nzobonariba said then.
According to cabinet at that time, financing would be sourced within the framework of the public-private partnership which to them seemed to include more advantages compared to other modes of financing.
Architectural plan of proposed shopping mall that will replace former Bujumbura central market that previously sat on a plot of 3 hectares
The post Shopping Mall To Replace Bujumbura Central Market Burnt In 2013 appeared first on Taarifa Rwanda.
Source : https://taarifa.rw/shopping-mall-to-replace-bujumbura-central-market-burnt-in-2013/
