INDUTECH generates 574 million cedis gate proceeds

Mr. Samuel K. Boakye, Exhibition Director of the just-ended Fifth Ghana Industrial and Technology Exhibition (INDUTECH '2001), said on Monday that gate proceeds at the fair fetched about 574 million cedis.

He told newsmen after the fair that 140,000 out of 200,000 tickets printed for adults at 4,000 cedis each were sold while only 70,000 out of the 200,000 tickets printed for children at 2,000 cedis each were sold.

"Proceeds from the adults tickets therefore amounted to 560 million cedis while that from the children's tickets summed up to 14 million cedis."

Mr. Boakye said he was correcting the erroneous impression created by Mr. Theodore K. Gyau, Chairman of the National Planning Committee (NPC) of the fair, in his closing address earlier that a total 220,000 adults and 250,000 children visited the fair.

Mr. Gyau had announced that gate proceeds yielded a total of 1.38 billion cedis, comprising 880 million cedis from adults' tickets and 500 million cedis from children's tickets.

He said the organisers had no problem with the ticket sellers as regards leakage of revenue as some media reports suggested, adding that the only situation of revenue leakage was as a result of illegal entry mostly on March 6.

"I wish to place on record that we have not had any problem whatsoever with the ladies selling the tickets and the boys destroying the spent tickets. Our major problem has been with people entering the fair through dangerous gutters or jumping over the fence wall."

Mr. Gyau said there had been a popular request that INDUTECH be organised on a two-yearly basis instead of the four-yearly basis, adding that the AGI council would consider it.

The organisers presented a total of 11 awards to exhibitors, sponsors and individuals who distinguished themselves during the fair.