After much speculations, the popular green excavator, now christened “Sany”, landed at Taj Mall and kicked off it’s demolition.

Taj Mall, which is located at the junction of Outer-Ring road and Eastern bypass, was renamed to Airgate Mall recently following a change of management and has been since inception been condemned for being illegally erected on a road reserve.

The building’s owner, Ramesh Gorasia, had previously maintained that he had all the legal documents to show the structure was approved by all relevant authorities and said would not remove anything from the mall and dared authorities to go ahead with the demolition.

Authorities had given Gorasia and his tenants until August 31 to vacate and demolish the building at his own cost as it encroached on the road reserve hindering its expansion.

According to Pipeline’s MCA Stephen Gikonyo, the demolition of Taj Mall will pave way for a construction of a service lane.

“The service lane we have at the moment is not wide enough and that is because of this building. Motorists have to go around all the way to General Motors on Mombasa Road for them to make a turn at Cabanas,” Gikonyo said.

Taj Mall becomes the latest mall to be demolished in the ongoing efforts to reclaim grabbed riparian land after South End Mall on Mbagathi Way and Ukay Mall, Westlands were brought down last month.