Moka Smart City back on stream!

Life in Moka is back to normal!

Small and large businesses have partially resumed in compliance with sanitary measures. At Kendra shopping centre, Les Allées in Helvetia and Bagatelle Mall, a large number of stores, hairdressers and brands like Mango, Sofap, Eastern Trading, Espace Coiffure and Patel Optics have reopened. They all hold the necessary WAPs and apply Ascencia’s #SafeShopping protocol implemented since March 2020. Some snacks and restaurants in Moka, such as Moka’z, L’Ardoise, Panarottis, Ocean Basket, Taste of Asia, L’Arabica and KFC are also open for take-away service!

Meanwhile, the people of Moka haven’t lost any of their good habits: initiatives such as waste sorting using our Molok recycling containers have continued throughout the lockdown period. Complimentary sports activities like Zumba and the Kids Gym, which are usually hosted by Moka’mwad at the Telfair amphitheatre, continued without disruption with online classes via Zoom to allow people to work out from home! Synergy is also doing its utmost to enable the people of Moka to stay active during lockdown. The sports centre offers three daily sessions via Zoom, from total body conditioning to yoga, dance and senior fitness. No more excuses for not exercising!

Moka’s teams at work

All Moka Smart City personnel have already obtained their WAP. Commenting on the health measures deployed and his teams’ resilience during this second lockdown, the General Manager, Samuel de Gersigny says,

“The safety of each employee clearly remains the top priority. We have implemented special measures in this regard, such as a roster system to allow everyone to enjoy optimum health conditions at the office. Our operations have never stopped and will continue; we are doing everything possible for gradual economic recovery within the smart city.”

Progress on Smart City projects

Various projects were underway prior to lockdown to continue the development of the Moka region. To date, a number of them have already resumed their activities.

The RDA is proceeding with road works in the city. For example, various sections of the A7 road have been surfaced to improve traffic flow, including from the Vivéa roundabout to the Saint Pierre Shell station and over about 100m from the Telfair roundabout towards Gentilly. Meanwhile, the CEB is progressing with the deployment of its power grid across Moka, namely the area behind the Bagatelle commercial zone.

Construction sites have restarted work in Les Promenades d’Helvétia residential area and the Bagatelle commercial precinct. Work has also resumed a few weeks ago on the sites of the future showrooms of brands like Toyota, Axess, Bamyris Motors, Redline and Lam Choo & Co. In terms of infrastructure, 300m of road have been built along the apartments facing the Promenade for motorised vehicle use, and a new access road for the Hyundai and Volvo showrooms in Bagatelle will be completed soon.

Bagatelle Mall, one of Ascencia’s seven shopping centres, is continuing the revamping work on a 6,300m² area, including 2,000m² for the expansion of Intermart. This revamped wing will offer plenty of nice surprises with products and services that are not commonly found in a mall, such as a 1,500m² lifestyle market promoting local expertise. The Burger King site has also resumed with the construction of a 1,000m² drive-thru within the Mall. Moreover, the Decathlon team has been busy shelfing products in the store and is preparing for the upcoming opening. Additionally, Ascencia has completed in last January 2021 the construction of the 3,000m²building that will house this world leader in sports goods retail.

Life is back in Moka! Swift economic recovery can be expected with the dynamism observed in recent weeks in the region.