She indicated that the centre was being grossly mismanaged, with the tenants allowed to operate as they wished.
For instance, she said, upon assuming office in August 2017, it was observed that only two out of over 200 tenants had valid tenancy agreements with the Trade Fair Centre, meaning the rest were operating ‘illegally’ and not paying rent.
As a result, she stated, she was forced to set a 90-day timeline to ensure the collection of monies owed the company.
So far, she said, the Trade Fair Centre has managed to collect GH?800,000 from its debtors.
Dr Adu seized the opportunity to disclose that tenants at the GTFC, as of August 2017, were indebted to the company to the tune of GH?2 million.
According to her, some tenants were owing amounts ranging from GH?50,000 and GH?60,000.
She stated that even though such amounts were owed the Trade Fair Centre, as of 2015, electricity connection to the centre had to be cut because it could not pay its electricity bills.
Additionally, she said water supply to the Trade Fair Centre was cut in 2015 due to non-payment of bills.
She was speaking to journalists yesterday in Accra to announce cabinet’s approval of a master plan for the redevelopment of the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre.
The redevelopment would result into a well-planned, mixed-use trade convention, with government expected to adopt a multi-developer and Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for the project envisaged to cost millions of dollars.
The redevelopment is expected to be carried out in three phases, with phase one anticipated to lead to development of a 12,000-seater trade convention centre.
Dr Adu, at a press briefing yesterday, disclosed that the master plan is at the implementation stage.
She said the redevelopment of the centre into a modern trade exhibition site is anticipated to take about three to five years.
Modern hotels and retail shops, among others, are expected to be built on the site.
She told journalists that after the redevelopment, Ghana would join the likes of Kenya, South Africa and Rwanda as the countries with mixed-use trade convention centres in Africa.
Nigeria is reportedly undertaking a similar project, as the competition for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) heats up within the sub-region.
During the redevelopment, trade fairs are to be organised in the regions, she said.
The land on which the Trade Fair Centre is situated was acquired in 1967 by the Government of Ghana.
The Trade Fair Centre is a limited liability company owned by the Government of Ghana.
The Trade Fair land was acquired by Dr Kwame Nkrumah by legislative instrument in 1960. The centre was set up as part of the government’s massive industrialisation campaign after independence.
It served as the primary trade hub for inter-African trade and also served as a conduit to the rest of the world. These were the underlying conditions which led to the establishment of the Ghana International Trade Fair series.
The first International Trade Fair commenced under the chairmanship of Air-Vice Marshal M.A. Otu, the then Trade Fair Committee Chairman.
The objective of the First International Fair was to promote inter-Africa trade and attract foreign international investors. Seventeen foreign countries participated and seven African nations attended in 1967.
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)