THE 38th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) better known as Sabasaba kicked off on Saturday with number of both national and internal exhibitors expressing concern over preparations saying they are unsatisfactory.
The fair which lasts for 11 days enjoys the patronage of the Tanzanian business community who use it as a platform for business exchange with international communities.
A number of exhibitors highlighted the delay of basic things like the delay in issuing identity cards and unfinished pavilions.
An exhibitor from Chicago, USA, Mr Jaime Valle president of Montani Cosmetics, Inc pointed out that a number of things are not as per his expectations. He said though the fair has started yet many stalls were still being put together.
He noted that the 11-day business show might be of insignificant help to him should the situation remain the same for the next two or three days. "I have travelled all the way from the US and paid a lot of money to the authorities.
I expected the show to take off on a serious note from day one but as you can see hardly anything is ready," he said. Mr Valle believes everything will turn out and blamed the culture of leaving things at the last minute.
"You can just see here, there are no carpets, power cable and we will incur extra unnecessary costs," he said.
Mama Adele, a local exhibitor showcasing handmade women bags pointed a displeasing finger at the organisers saying the show is disorganised and at the same time exhibitors failed to adhere to directives that demanded them to complete everything by June 25.
A spot check by 'Sunday News' saw many pavilions still under construction. To make things even worse, billboards placed at the entrance up to yesterday read '37th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair, 28th June--8th July, 2013.'
Reached for comments, Tanzania Development Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TANTRADE) Director General, Ms Jacqueline Maleko pointed out that the blame over poor organisation should rest on the exhibitors.
"Tanzanians have a culture of doing things in the last minutes; this actually costs us. We had directed the exhibitors to ensure that by 25 June, everything was to be in place," she said.
On the outdated billboards placed at the entrance she said 'by tomorrow evening (today) you will not see them.'
According to Ms Maleko over 1,700 and 498 local and foreign companies respectively are expected to participate this year.
"For the first time we have also 11 companies from US and other 10 from Japan, this is one of the greatest achievements the authority have recorded," she noted.
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