Luanda, Angola, 19 May – A new shopping centre called Centro Comercial de Viana is under construction in the south of Luanda costing an initial US$15 million, the general director of the project said in Luanda Tuesday.

Speaking to Angolan news agency Angop, Ernesto Manuel Domingos also said that the building, construction of which began in August 2009, would include two escalators connecting seven floors and that it was due to be inaugurated on 11 November of this year.

The shopping centre, which is the result of an investment by a consortium between Angolan companies Olho Singelo and Emerson e Irmãos, will have two cinema screens with capacity for 500 and 150 people, 70 stores, 80 percent of which have already been reserved according to the consortium’s sales director, Florinda Gonçalves.

The second phase of the project may be launched in the next three months and will include construction of a second block, with nine floors, three of which underground to be used as a car park, with capacity for 400 vehicles, with increased security, six lifts and four escalators.

According to economic feasibility studies the first block of the building, according to Ernesto Domingos, at least 1,600 people per day are expected to visit the most modern shopping centre under construction in Angola.

The shopping centre will create over 200 permanent jobs in the initial phase of the project. (macauhub)