"Forthcoming Fair Would Be Different"

Exhibitors of the forthcoming Eighth Ghana International Trade Fair slated for February 28 to March 10, 2002 on Tuesday asked the authorities to reduce utility fees being charged for the event.

However, the authorities of the Ghana Trade Fair Company say they will not budge. The fair authorities are asking for 350,000 cedis for water and electricity, up from 50,000 cedis charged for the Grand Sales.

The exhibitors, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after meeting the Trade Fair authorities, described the 650 per cent increase as unreasonable and called for a resolution of the matter before it got out of hand.

In an interview with the GNA, Ms Esther Ofori, Chief Executive of the Ghana Trade Fair Company, confirmed that fees for the utilities had been increased.

She explained that they were now charging 12,500 cedis a day for water and another 12,500 cedis for electricity for the 12 days.

"Exhibitors use very high energy consuming bulbs... If you are running a company with a large string of overheads, you should be able to spread the costs to avoid losses," she said.

Ms Ofori said the GTFC was not being unreasonable since, "as you know, utility bills by themselves have gone up in recent times and we must recover our cost as well".

She appealed to the exhibitors to be patient and appreciate the efforts being put in by the GTFC to mould the Ghana International Trade Fair to fit similar international fairs.

She also asked them to go ahead to pay the new rates, adding, "A rebate is not possible. Money begets money and I am sure they would make it in the end."

"Previously the Ministry of Trade and Industry subsidised the bills. Today, it is not so. Hence we have to take up all the bills that come our way."

Ms Ofori said the forthcoming fair would be different in that security would be beefed up significantly and the exhibitors would be happy: "There will be private security, the military and guard dogs to ensure that life, goods and property are secured."

She added that GTFC had taken insurance cover for burglary saying this was to bring comfort to exhibitors, who lose their wares through fire or flood.

"The exhibitors, however, need to take insurance against thievery in case someone enters their stands and steals some items. These we cannot take responsibility for since we cannot tell what each exhibitors brings onto the fair grounds."

Ms Ofori said the fair authorities were doing everything to ensure continued power supply during the fair as a means of promoting Ghana as a serious business location.

"If there is intermittent power supply then we have no business promoting the fair and even Ghana as a preferred investment destination," she said.