In a quite unexpected way, the Giftland Mall may have become a victim of its own success. The planned expansion of what has become a near iconic shopping and entertainment showpiece to include, among other things, what the mall’s Chief Executive Officer Roy Beepat says will be a novel supermarket that will aim to offer a 70 per cent level of local foods, is likely to place further pressure on what has become its Achilles Heel, parking. There is no space left on the area of land allocated for the mall and its appurtenances and the anticipated level of additional patronage which Beepat believes will result from the advent of a supermarket could disrupt what is already the delicate balance between patrons and parking space, particularly at weekends.
Efforts by the mall’s management to persuade government to allocate a further
