By Lylie Happiness
Oshakati, Aug. 31 — The Ongwediva Trade Fair (OATF) preparatory committee has declined a request by some traders to extend the fair period to nine days.
The exhibitors on Tuesday submitted a petition to the committee requesting an extension as they felt they had incurred losses and sought to recoup.
The exhibitors suggested that the OATF be extended until 04 September 2022.
However, town spokesperson Jackson Muma said they will not extend the days as the trade fair was planned during the outbreak of coronavirus.
“The preparatory committee would like to inform the exhibitors and all stakeholders that prior to the allocation of stands, an announcement was made, specifically on the shortening of the exhibition days from 9 days to 7 days,” he said.
Muma added that all exhibitors were served with allocation letters clearly stating that “the OATF 2022 will be held from 26 August to 01 September 2022.
Muma added that the letter was also published through marketing platforms.
He noted that the dates were determined on two considerations: One, feedback received through evaluation indicated that the days of the Trade Fair be reduced to seven days, as nine days appears to be too long.
“Preparations of the 2022 OATF commenced amidst strict Covid-19 regulations,” he said adding that when the restriction got lifted, all logistics were in the final stages and the committee could not reverse decisions already made.
He said the extension of exhibition days would require additional financial resources and logistics.
“This has an effect on service providers such as security and maintenance services,” he added.
Muma stressed that partitioning of stands is an outsourced service which has been procured for seven days only. A liquor licence for the exhibitors was only issued for a period of seven days. In addition, the entry passes were issued for seven days only.
“In consideration of the above facts it’s unfortunate that the extension of exhibition days is not possible,” he said.
Muma said this year the committee will conduct an evaluation with exhibitors and shall analyse the outcome to serve as a guiding tool moving forward.
