afrol News, 19 December - The largest supermarket group in Africa, Shoprite is at the brink of investing US $80 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where has began to build two modern supermarkets in the major cities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. Both projects contain houses, offices and hotels.

A ceremony marking the start of works in one of the project sites in Lubumbashi was attended by the Governor of Katanga Province, Moise Katumbi.

The two projects, which are the first of their in DRC, will be built simultaneously. The Kinshasa and Lubumbashi centers cover an area of 14,000 m2 and 5,500 m2 respectively.

A chain of stores covering an area of about 8,500 m2 and a space for 600 parking spaces are also part of the Lubumbashi project. Shoprite said the stores will be rented by local and international traders. A total investment of about US $30 million is earmarked for the project that starts in the second quarter of 2008 and ends in the middle of 2009.

The Kinshasa project, which includes a 24,000 m2 retail shopping center, is expected to be built by a local company and Shoprite.

Shoprite will build a supermarket, a string of stores and 400 parking spaces, costing US $50 million.

The General Manager of Shoprite Zambia, Charles Botha, hailed President Joseph Kabila for carrying out sound political and economic reforms that attract international investors. He disclosed the group's larger ambitions of setting up shops in DRC. As such, Botha appealed to the government to help the group acquire suitable sites so that it can build more malls in the country.

Shoprite will not only build modern supermarkets busy with a wide variety of cheap quality products, but it will also provide employment opportunities for the country.

As a way of making preparation for the regular supply of goods for its stores, Shoprite is poised to stimulate local agricultural industries by providing technical assistance to farmers of small and medium scales. It aims to provide the necessary technical support to the local manufacturing sector to produce products that conform to international standards of quality.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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