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The management of the Ghana Trade Fair Company (GTFC), has put in place measures to revamp the company to regain its past glory.

As part of the measures, it has put in place an aggressive revenue collection plan to retrieve arrears of over GH¢2 million owed it by its tenants.

Outstanding electricity bills make up over GH¢600,000 of the arrears, the remaining is a balance of tenancy arrears.

Tenants

Currently, there are about 200 tenants operating on the premises of the GTFC, most of whom are operating without valid tenancy agreements, while others are using the electricity without paying.

Explaining how the company would be able to retrieve the arrears in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra on Thursday, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GTFC, Dr Agnes Adu, said the company started the process by inviting all tenants to discuss with them how they could settle their arrears.

She said that initiative worked as planned and within the first five days, “we collected GH¢100,000. Indeed, we went after our revenue and did not give room for excuses.”

Dr Adu said within 60 days after assuming office, the company had been able to retrieve over 70 per cent of all arrears owed it.

90-day target

She said within her first 90 days in office, from July 2017, the company attracted six solo fairs from which it raked in a substantial fund to start with its refurbishment.

She said currently, the management of the GTFC was liaising with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to help collect the outstanding arrears of electricity bills that led to the disconnection of the company from the national grid.

Meanwhile, she said the GFFC had been re-connected to the national grid, a target she set herself to achieve in the first 90 days of assuming office.

One meter

On what led to the company’s huge indebtedness to the ECG, Dr Adu explained that the company and its tenants had just one meter, “meaning when the tenants owed, it affected the company.”

“The Trade Fair Company and every tenant here who is running their own businesses are on one meter and so their bills became ours when they did not pay,” she emphasised.

Dr Adu said with the re-connection of the company to the national grid, all tenants owing electricity arrears, would have to pay up before they would be reconnected.

Additionally, she said the GTFC was liaising with the ECG to get separate meters for all tenants, to free the GTFC from having to pay bills for electricity it did not use.