MBS chairperson Momad Bachir Sulemane is one of the country's richest businessmen, and MBS spent over 32 million dollars on constructing this complex, claimed as the largest shopping centre in Mozambique.
There are 180 spaces for shops, cinemas, restaurants and other facilities - but so far only two clothing and footwear shops ("Mr Price" and "Nike") are open to the public.
MBS claims that the whole complex will be operational on 25 September (the 33rd anniversary of the start of the Mozambican independence war).
During the ceremony, Guebuza, who is on the second day of a tour of Maputo city, praised the management of the undertaking, saying that it is "one more example to show that in Mozambique we are weakening poverty and that this ill will be defeated".
He said that the MBS complex will create more jobs and thus increase the number of tax payers. It would step up competition in the retail sector, to the benefit of the citizens.
He noted that the shopping centre is open to receive services and products, but asked "where are these services and products to come from?" "I repeat that every import of goods results in the export of opportunities for the speedy achievement of our collective will not to be poor in this rich country of ours", Guebuza declared.
He added that imports can also mean a loss of self-esteem and of pride in the "made in Mozambique" campaign, aimed at "promoting the use of local resources, and stimulating the competitiveness of our companies on the domestic, regional and international market".
Guebuza recalled that, under the Trade Protocol of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), there should be a southern African free trade area as from 2008, a Customs Union by 2010, and a Common Market by 2015.
With these challenges looming, Guebuza urged the business community to strive to "improve the quality of its products, to increase production and productivity, and work for a greater ability to compete on the domestic and regional markets".
He said that the government has been doing its part in this, by simplifying administrative and licensing procedures in order to improve the business environment, and has been discussing with the private sector the best ways to remove any obstacles to business development.
Before inaugurating the MBS Centre, Guebuza visited the site in Zimpeto neighbourhood where the city's main wholesale food market will be transferred.
He urged the simplification of the sales chain, by cutting out middlemen as far as possible, and ensuring that food reaches the consumers as cheaply as possible.
Guebuza declined to make any rash promises about prices falling with the new market - but he hoped that they would at least stabilise.
The Zimpeto market will begin to operate in the second half of this month. It is located on the main road north, very close to some of the outlying Maputo green zones that supply the city with much of its vegetables. Part of the rationale for building the market in Zimpeto is to stimulate production in the green belt.
The existing wholesale market, in Malanga neighbourhood, the presence of which is greatly resented by local residents, will be closed.
The mayor of Maputo, Eneas Comiche, told Guebuza that the Zimpeto market will provide wholesale operators and their clients with speedier, safer and more hygienic conditions.
The market covers six hectares, and has sufficient space for 112 stalls, and 84 trailer trucks. Its construction cost slightly more than 900,000 US dollars.
SOURCE: AIM
