Durban — After almost two-years of closure, Bridge City Shopping Centre in KwaMashu will re-open its doors to the public for business on Thursday.
This follows its closure in July 2021 as a result of damage and looting during the riots that year.
Futuregrowth Community Property Fund (Comprop), Capital Land Asset Management and eThekwini Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda attended the ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday.
The damage during the looting led to the full closure and internal reconstruction of the shopping centre.
Fund manager of Comprop, Smital Rambhai, said the July unrest was the most tragic event and caused extensive damage to the shopping centre.
Rambhai said Futuregrowth and Capital Land set an immediate strategy after the riots had settled, to embark on restoring the economic support that Bridge City Shopping Centre provides these communities.
He said one of the key priorities was to restore access to essential goods and services at an affordable price. He said Superspar was trading as early as June 2022, while the rest of the centre was being reconstructed.
Rambhai said the shopping centre has risen with great glory, regardless of all the previous challenges.
“Community members in KwaMashu are ecstatic with the centre functioning to its full capacity again. Some comments from community members from our Facebook page are very touching. One customer said they were sad with the closure of the centre because it meant people were going to lose their jobs,” said Rambhai.
Mayor Kaunda, said the opening of the centre brings in new hope of a brighter and more prosperous future to the residents of eThekwini Municipality.
He said the city will deploy more law enforcement teams to ensure that what happened during July unrest does not repeat itself in future.
WhatsApp your views on this story at 071 485 7995.
Daily News