Capital Group, financing the construction of East Africa’s largest retail chain and other important infrastructural projects.
The proposed investment project by Mara Capital Group –led by Ugandan billionaire Ashish Thakkar – will include the construction of the biggest shopping mall in East Africa to date, construction of two hotels, a conference centre and a business park; alongside other vital infrastructural developments such as the building of a new hospital, a police centre and plentiful residential properties for those staffing the various proposed institutions.
Oyster Bay – an area of Tanzanian capital city Dar-es-Salaam – is currently home to one of the city’s biggest police stations and barracks, however with little funding the police force its outgrowing the infrastructure available to it on site.
As such, spokesman for the police force Isaac Nantanga told journalists present in Dar-es-Salaam: “Because of the huge demand of housing within the Police Force, which is estimated at 34,710 units, the Ministry of Home Affairs realised that this 24-hectare Oyster Bay plot of land is ideal for investment in the quest to increase housing units. The venture will also provide a sustainable source of revenue for the force.”
With such important projects to be completed in the area, preliminary works are already underway – Thakkar and Mara conducting full environmental assessments in order to achieve the best project plans: construction planning also under way. It is estimated that construction will begin in July 2013.
Once in operation, the complex will be run by the Mara group for 50 years, whereafter the operational complex will revert into the hands of the government, according to the investment deal.
Given that police and their families currently live in the Oyster Bay barracks, a number of people will have to be relocated in order for the project to take place. To facilitate this move, Mara has also included provision of 20 new housing units in Mikocheni, and 330 new units in Kunduchi, in the investment proposal – as such police members and their families will have appropriate units to be moved to, as construction commences.
