LIMPOPO Premier Cassel Mathale is confident that the rate of unemployment will go down after the unveiling of plans to build a new mall.

The Mall of the North, a regional shopping centre, will become the province's single largest commercial real estate investment, suitably situated in a prime location.

Limpopo is the only province in which unemployment went down by 3,6 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

With Gauteng and Western Cape, Limpopo is counted among the provinces whose economies grew by 3,8 percent above the national average of 3,6 percent between 1996 and 2007.

"The Mall of the North is an important investment in our province," Mathale said.

"It builds on the profile of a growing economy geared to job creation and the eradication of poverty.

The venture is yet another sign that the private sector has confidence in our economy and the policies of our government," he said.

Mathale said the establishment of the mall happens at a time when the province is investing massively in infrastructural development for the activities of the Fifa 2010 World Cup Games and beyond.

"We are building roads and providing water, electricity and sanitation infrastructure at a rate never seen before," he said.

The R1,2 billion Mall of the North is set to open in the first quarter of 2011 and is owned and developed by JSE-listed company Resilient Property Income Fund, Flanagan & Gerard and Moolman Group.

It has already been substantially let, with 85 percent of the available space subscribed for to date.