I thought I was dreaming when I happen to come across that picture , how can an ultra poor country like Afghanistan that was reduced to rumble emerge out of nothing and build such a first class mall IN SUCH A SHORT SPAN OF TIME (although I am happy for the Afghans, this picture also fills me with sadness): And Nigeria which didn´t have any war and an urban thriving middle class only has three malls to boast among which I would only classify one single mall to be first class (The Palms); in a country of 140 million people and which is the sixth largest oil producer in the whole worldl?
WAKE UP NIGERIA WAKE UP!!!!

IT IS TIME TO START ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LEAVE POLITICS BEHIND! WAKE UP NOW OR NEVER! PLEASE I BEG YOU WAKE UP!!!!!







WORLD-CLASS MALL EMERGES FROM RUBBLE OF KABUL

In the universe of difficult retail projects, few can match the story of Kabul City Center, a high-end vertical mall set in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital city.

Construction of the center began three years ago, not long after U.S. forces drove the Taliban from the city. Large parts of Kabul lay in ruins at the time, the legacy of Afghanistan’s civil war that followed the departure of the Russians in the late 1980s and, more recently, bombing by the Americans.

Backed by local developer Haji Abdul Qudus Safi, the project moved ahead despite widespread power shortages. Finally, in September, it opened its doors.

Kabul City Center occupies the first three floors of the 10-story building, which also houses the expensive Safi Landmark Hotel. The mall’s 97 stores. The public areas feature a cappuccino bar, a bank of glass-walled elevators and Afghanistan’s first escalator.

By most accounts, business has been strong.

Having endured adversity all around it, Kabul City Center is clearly serving its intended market. But it does not diminish the need for other retail, such as a hypermarket, that would serve a broader segment of the population.

“God is great,” a young man outside the mall told a reporter from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, an organization that assists local journalists working in areas of conflict. “He gives so much to some people that they are able to build places like this.”

an urban thriving middle class

are you sure bout that?

Come on, there are more well-to-do Nigerians nowadays than in the grim 90´s, you cannot deny that , Wealth creation starts from individually private initiaves and not from dreaming cozily about entering a minister´s office.

not too impressed but not bad.