Dr. Agnes Adu (seated right), CEO of Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited and Sunder Kithram (seated left) director of PlanetOne Group signing an MoU, with them are President Akufo-Addo and other government officials
The Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited (GTFCL) yesterday managed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PlanetOne Group for the redevelopment of the Trade Fair site in Accra.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing Expo 2020 in Dubai between a Director of the Group, Sunder Kithran and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GTFCL, Dr Agnes Adu.
This was in the presence of President Akufo-Addo and Trade Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen.
The project, which is expected to commence somewhere in the middle of this year, is expected to cost over $1 billion.
It would involve the redevelopment of the approximately 150-acre land into a modern mixed-use commercial estate with a convention centre with a seating capacity of 24,000 people and exhibition facilities.
Other key components of this development will be shopping malls, offices, leisure centres, hotels and related amenities which would keep the centre alive to serve the leisure, commercial and tourism needs of its users.
The Ghana Trade Fair Company was established by an Executive Instrument (EI) in 1960 as a project to facilitate Ghana’s post-independence trade and industrialisation drive. EI10 acquired a 239.92-acre land for this purpose and to showcase Ghana’s exports with the view to attracting investors into its fledgling economy.
Since 1960, GTFCL has metamorphosed into a limited liability company strategically positioned to promote and facilitate trade in Ghana.
Long periods of neglect by successive governments and a lack of focus have rendered the institution ineffective and incapable of delivering what it was created to do.
In the last two decades, iconic trade pavilions and related infrastructure constructed at its current location have deteriorated and been taken over by third parties under various arrangements that have allowed the company to stay afloat.
During the period, attempts have been made to revive the company through various public-private partnership initiatives, by redeveloping the centre under various themes.
The current redevelopment project is considered as a core part of President Nana Akufo Addo’s vision to position Ghana as a trade hub for West Africa.
BY Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent