In the next 16 months Ghana will be home to a US$93million shopping mall which would occupy a area of 27,000 square meters, and house 67 local and international shops. The West Hills Mall, currently being constructed by South-African real estate contractors, WHMO at Dunkonah near Weija in Accra, is jointly owned by Delico Property Development Limited (from Mauritius) with 60% shares and by Ghana’s Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) with 40% shares. Chairman of West Hills Mall, Kofi Sekyere told journalists the mall is the biggest in West Africa because currently the biggest is in Nigeria and it is only 23,000 square meters and Accra Mall is 20,000 square meters, adding that the initial size of West Hills Mall is 27,000 square meters, but would be increased to 40,000 square meters over time. He said the project currently employs five subcontractors in Ghana and one from outside Ghana, with over 300 workers on site so far. “We expect the by the completion of the project we would have provided jobs for 1,000 Ghanaians,” he said. Mr. Sekyere said when completed, the mall would have two anchor tenants, namely Shoprite and Palace supermarkets, plus 65 line shops from Ghana and around the world. He said lessons have been learnt from Accra Mall regarding the vehicular traffic jam around the mall and the difficulty in getting in so measures have been put in place to avoid that problem at West Hills Mall. “We have a specially designed interchange near the mall to ensure smooth vehicular traffic flow and we have also designed a pedestrian underpass for persons entering the mall on foot so they will not compete with vehicles,” he said. Mr. Sekyere said the choice of Accra West for this “luxurious” project was based on research which revealed that the hitherto huge difference in wealth between Accra East and West dwindled largely so there is a clear sign that the future lies in the West. Mr. Daniel King represents SSNIT on the board of the mall, and he told Adom News SSNIT’s investment into the mall is part of a new drive to invest into ventures that promise quick, consistent and long-term returns. “In the past we invested into real estates and it did not work but I can assure you that we have carefully considered this investment and we are absolutely convinced that it would be profitable enough for us to pay pension benefits consistently,” he said.