The Dhaka International Trade Fair 2014 will begin on January 11 instead of January 1 as it usually happens, a commerce ministry statement said on Tuesday.
The Export Promotion Bureau and the commerce ministry jointly organises the fair at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. The EPB secretary, AFM Manzur Kadir, also director of the DITF 2014, however, said that no ministry letter had reached them as yet but they had proposed a deferral at the request of businessmen.
He said that businessmen had told him that the fair would not be able to draw a large number of visitors, if I began on January 1, because of the current political crisis in view of the national elections scheduled for 5.
Preparations for the fair were still on on Tuesday as participants were busy setting up pavilions and stalls such as those of Walton, Hatil and Pran-RFL among others.
Work of the parking area, fountain and some other jobs were yet to be completed.
Md Harun, who is supplying planks to businessmen for stalls construction, said that they were working amid risk this time.
The fair arrangement committee’s member secretary Bikarna Kumar Ghosh, also a deputy director at the Export Promotion Bureau, said that the prime minister was scheduled to open the fair on January 11 and the fair would then run for a month.
There will be 213 general stalls , he said. There will be a Bangabandhu Memorial Pavilion at the fair.
There will be 220 pavilions — 54 premier pavilions, 42 premier mini pavilions, 61 reserve mini pavilions, 19 foreign premier stalls, 20 foreign pavilions, 2 foreign mini pavilions, 9 general reserve pavilions and 13 general pavilions.
Fair officials said that there would be three mother and child care centres. There will be a food zone with 10 restaurants and 42 food stalls. The fair will also feature Sundarban Eco Park in the south-east corner.
There will be four ATM booths, toilets, prayer room and four ticket counters. The entry fee is Tk 20 for children and Tk 30 for the adult.
The fair will remain open to all from 10:00am to 10:00pm, fair officials said.
-With New Age input
