Mushrooming of Shopping Malls unsettles CTPD

CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo (Picture by Albert Mpezeni)

The Centre for Trade policy and Development (CTPD) has observed that Zambia needs more factories and not shopping malls that are mushrooming in the country.

CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo says his organization has noted with concern the increasing number of Shopping malls dotted around the country with the capital, Lusaka alone, boasting of not less than seven major retail hubs-predominantly stocked with South African high-end products and services.

Mr. Mwaipopo says Zambia now has 3 large shopping malls within a few miles of each other, and another 3 along Kafue road.

He says what Zambia has been experiencing can be termed as a shopping mall mania, with millions of dollars in foreign capital pouring into retail property developments instead of the establishment and growing of local industries.

He is of the considered view that this hyper-consumerism has the potential to derail Zambia from its current long term development trajectory.

Mr. Mwaipopo says the second problem with such retail-centered investment is the crowding-out of manufacturing investment.