The Ghana Trade Fair Company has denied reports that it targeted some companies for the demolishing exercise which took place at the centre.
In a statement, the Trade Fair Company also indicated that the companies were informed ahead of the exercise.
This response is coming after an owner of two of the companies that were demolished, Raymond Archer, accused the Trade Fair Company of targetting over a perceived association with the largest opposition party.
“We are citizens here. How do you destroy one’s business because you want to bring another person’s business using politics? If you destroy my business with politics, then what? If I also get power, I also break it down? Where did we go as a people? And this business has nothing to do with politics. In fact, when I was doing this business, I specifically decided not to do government projects purposely because I didn’t want the politics in my business. Every work we’re doing here is for private sector,” he told Accra-based Starr FM.
However, reacting to the claims, the Trade Fair company said: “the GTFCL wants to make it categorically clear that, contrary to what is being speculated in the media, no business or businesses have ever been targeted for demolition because of their political or other affiliations”.
Ghana International Trade Fair Centre Redevelopment Project
The Ghana Trade Fair Company is redeveloping the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre into an ultra-modern, first class, mixed use facility with a focus on trade facilitation and business promotion.
Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited envisions a lively community at the Trade Fair Centre for both residents and visitors and is working to improve the visible and infrastructural components to transform this site into an active 24-hour destination. With uses that will enliven the site around the clock, the area promises to become a major draw for the greater Accra region day and night.
The re-developed site will cover an area of about 150 acres and will offer a variety of services and facilities built around an ultra-modern modern Convention Centre. The other facilities include Exhibition Halls Technology Hub, Social/Entertainment/Recreational Centre, Commercial Offices/Business Incubation Centre, High End Apartments, Public Realm spaces, Retail Mall, Hotels and an African Trade Village.
Designed to be the largest of its kind in Africa, the 60,000 square metre Convention Centre and Exhibition Halls anchors one end of a North-South axis running down the middle of the Trade Fair and will be a major hub of activity – exhibitions, concerts and trade shows. The defining feature of this convention centre is its 25,000-seat facility.
The project, which is expected to be completed by 2022, is the joint effort of the Ghana Trade Fair Company and interested investors, developers and financiers.
The redeveloped facility will not only be physically attractive, but also commercially viable, capable of sustaining itself and further generating significant economic and commercial benefits to its shareholder through dividend payments, job creation etc. It will also support Ghana’s emergence as a regional and global trade leader through organization of world class fairs and exhibitions.
It will also be the prime institution for business trade facilitation in Ghana and will promote business exposure by creating match – making opportunities for Ghanaian businesses and their counterparts abroad. It will provide the conference facilities in Accra for high level events relating to Ghana’s hosting of the Secretariat of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AcFTA). It will be the first ever facility in Ghana to provide such services to the AcFTA.
The Project is located in a prime area of Accra which already houses first class facilities including the La Palm Royal and Labadi Hotels patronized by foreign businessmen and dignitaries.
Since 2017 the Ghana Trade Fair Company has been engaging key stakeholders to redevelop the site. A Masterplan has been approved by the Board and Cabinet, and a horizontal developer secured with PPA approval on 28th June 2019 to provide the critical infrastructure needed for the lease of the site to private developers to develop the various facilities earmarked in the Masterplan to support the Ghana Trade Fair Company’s Convention and Exhibition Facilities. What has been in the way of the redevelopment are a number of structures on site occupied by a number of businesses, whose agreements had long expired.
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