Despite fires and floods in the past six months, work on the development of a R2-billion shopping mall in Port Elizabeth are still on track.
Despite fires and floods in the past six months, work on the development of a R2-billion shopping mall in Port Elizabeth are still on track.
Earthworks to prepare the construction site, at the end of Walker Drive and adjacent to the N2 leading to Jeffrey’s Bay, began late last year and are on course to wrap up at the end of this month, according to sub-contractor Mawethu Civils.
“When we got onto site last October, it was totally waterlogged because of the record winter rains,” Mawethu Civils director Chris Zoetmulder explained.
Then came the fires late last month when strong winds fanned a bush fire that started at a nearby townhouse development.
“It started nearby on the Tuesday [January 22], then it died down,” said site safety officer Tienus Bezuidenhout, “But then the wind came up the next day and it flared up again.”
The fire spread to the site and threatened to ignite costly equipment, including a R6-million rock crusher.
With the city’s fire department already battling fires elsewhere, Bezuidenhout and environmental officer Marcelle Basson were forced to fight the flames themselves, first with water trucks used for the earthworks, then by beating the flames with fynbos.
“We battled it for most of the day. At one stage it jumped the road and we got worried,” Basson said, who also had his hands full rescuing animals from the flames, even though it was off site.
By late on the Wednesday the fire had died down and the team was able to build new fire breaks.
Despite these delays, Zoetmulder said they were still on track and the mall will be one of the biggest in the province when complete.
Bay West City managing director Gavin Blows said the mall was set to be completed towards the end of next year.
It is estimated that more than 10 000 jobs will be created during the construction phase of the Bay West Mall, before about 1 500 permanent jobs become available on the 85 000m² mall’s completion.
