ASTANA – MEGA Silk Way is the capital’s new shopping and entertainment center located at the EXPO 2017 site and was launched in December. The official opening is planned for the first quarter of 2017.
“The total area of the new mall is about 140,000 square meters. The length is about 500 meters and width is about 160 meters, while the height of the atriums is 25 meters, which makes it almost the same level as an eight-story building,” according to the management.
British company Chapman Taylor, which has completed more than 2,000 large-scale retail projects in 90 countries, is the architect.
“The building of MEGA Silk Way harmoniously fits into the existing style of the architectural ensemble of the international exhibition EXPO 2017,” center.
The new mall will represent more than 20 Kazakh companies, including large and well-known ones in Nur Sultan and Almaty such as Happylon (amusement and entertainment parks for children), Marwin (kid’s stores), Evrikum (interactive informative and amusement park of wonders), Chaplin (cinema), Technodom (household appliances) and Mimioriki (children’s clothes). Local brands include QLP, Cosmo Style, Altyn Alan, Kazyna-Gold, Empire, Mini City and KazTour.
In addition to Happylon and Evrikum, the mall will also have a Kango trampoline center and Mega Ice, an 800-square-metre ice rink. Guests will be able to enjoy the largest screen in Nur Sultan in the 11-hall Chaplin cinema.
International retailers have been paying attention to the project, noted the management. In 2017, Swedish clothier H&M will launch its store with a trading area of 2,545 square meters. Inditex, one of the world’s biggest retailers with its brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull&Bear and Oysho, will occupy 8,000 square meters.
MEGA Silk Way will also have a unique platform, an innovative laboratory where young professionals in the information system and technology fields will be able to develop and test their projects.
The new complex is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs, and including service companies, in excess of 5,000 people will be employed. The annual tax payments to the budget are projected to be about 5 billion tenge (US$15 million).
Approximately 67 billion tenge (US$201.7 million) was invested into MEGA Silk Way, 70 percent of which are loans and 30 percent from the company’s own funds.
