Construction work starts on modern shopping mall in Kano

Construction work on the new Ado Bayero modern shopping mall in the northern Nigerian city of Kano officially started last week.

Mohammed Hayatu-Deen

Mohammed Hayatu-Deen

The Daily Trust newspaper reports the N11 billion (US$73 million) facility is scheduled to open in October 2012.

When completed, the mall is expected to feature more than 50 shops as well as a cinema. In addition the facility will have 1,000 parking spaces, constant electricity supply, a water treatment plant, and baby feeding and changing facilities.

In an earlier press release, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, founder and CEO of Alpine Investment Services, the sponsors of the mall, said that the project is designed to capitalise on the legacy of Kano as a strong industrial and commercial hub of northern Nigeria with extensive trade routes going as far as Niger, Chad, Cameroon and central Africa. He added that the development would be a targeted approach in re-capturing that legacy and injecting the much needed economic and social dynamism to the city.

A major investor in the project, General T Y Danjuma, chairman of T Y Holdings Limited, said the operation of the mall would not go against the culture of the people of Kano, saying alcohol and pork would not be sold at the mall.