Rundu Mall not a safety hazard – engineer

THE Rundu Town Council is set to discuss and issue a fitness certificate to the town’s Galaxy Mall this week.
The office of the town CEO received a final report on the safety of the Galaxy Mall last Wednesday.

Civil engineer Jurgen Leicher of Absolute Consulting Engineers submitted his report on the alleged cracks in the mall to town CEO Romanus Haironga.
Leicher last week told The Namibian that there was nothing hazardous about the mall and that it was not falling apart as alleged by the community.
‘There is nothing wrong with the building,’ he said, adding that the community was probably concerned about the expansion joints in the building.
Residents of Rundu had complained about the gaps they said were clearly visible in the building.
Leicher explained that engineers used expansion joints to leave room for the building to expand during hot weather.
In this case, though, the expansion joints were not covered, as is the norm.
This apparently alarmed people who thought the building had dangerous cracks.
Haironga last week said that the town engineers also did their own investigations and sorted out the problems. Haironga did not want to comment further.
The Galaxy Mall was opened in December 2008 and has been a business hub at the northern town since then.
Chinese-owned First Wall Property Investments pumped about N$80 million into the development.
With escalators and elevators, the mall hosts 48 shops and has been offering local businesspeople rental space to do business.
Once the town council is satisfied with the report, it will issue a three-month temporary fitness certificate pending a final inspection before the building is declared safe.

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