The 23rd edition of Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) began on Monday with many stalls still not set up to showcase their products.
During a visit to the DITF ground, this correspondent found at least 50 stalls – allocated to both local and foreign traders – that have yet to be fully set up and ready to welcome visitors, even though DITF organizers set a deadline to complete all the preparations for the expo on December 29.
There were a few stalls by government offices which were also not prepared for the fair.
Most of these stalls were either half-constructed, or had yet to be stocked with the products to be showcased, their owners still busy with decorations.
When asked about the delay, officials at the Export Promotion Bureau, who organize the event every year, said last-moment allocation of some of the stalls to the DITF participants might have led to the delay in preparation, but the number of such stalls is small.
The fair also saw a low turnout of visitors on the first day; however, the number increased later in the evening.
Sources at the DITF premises said this delay in preparations has been a trend for years, even though the fair is inaugurated on time every year.
Construction workers were seen working inside the stall of Olcode, a stall by Energypac, at around 2:00pm on Monday.
“We have not brought any of our products yet as the stalls are not ready. Although we received the stall earlier, it took us longer than expected to give the work order to the construction workers, which we did on December 22. That delay led to this situation,” said Sazzad Hossain, admin officer of Human Resources, Olcode, a stall by Energypac, overseeing the preparations around 2pm on Monday.
Nabisco Biscuit and Bread Factory Ltd, a leading company in producing baked products, did not have their stalls ready either; their staff were seen busy stocking up their products on Monday afternoon.
“We had to bring our products inside the fair premises after 1pm, which led to the delay in the arrangement,” said Nabisco’s Senior Marketing Officer Pushpo Kanto Pal.
Workers were at work inside the stall of Fu Wang Foods, the set up of which was also only half complete.
“We were late in setting up our stall because we could not decide how to do it. We expect to have the stall ready for visitors in three days,” said stall in-charge Asadullah.
The situation was even worse for the pavilions allocated to foreign traders invited to the trade fair.
The pavilions house several small stalls from different countries, including Thailand, Iran, China, Pakistan and India.
“We are here to display food from different countries, but our stall is not ready because of power connection issues,” said stall manager of Fair Distribution, Sirajul Mumin.
However, the stalls allocated to government organizations seemed to be in the worst state.
Bangladesh Tourism Board set up their stall that is a miniature version of the Lalbagh Fort, but the stall is empty inside.
“We still have some decoration work to complete. We received the stall allocation 20 days ago, but for some reason we could not finish the preparation on time. We are trying to finish as soon as possible,” said Shafikul Alam, marketing manager of Pathfinder, the agency that is developing the stage.
The pavilion by Jute Diversification Promotion Centre (JDPC) under the Ministry of Textiles and Jute was also under construction when this reporter paid a visit.
When asked, Mohammad Abdur Rouf, secretary of the Trade Fair Committee and deputy director (finance) at the Export Promotion Bureau, told the Dhaka Tribune that many participants had failed to pay the fees on time, which in turn delayed the allocation process.
“Because of that, construction of 15-20 stalls is still in progress, but we expect that they will be ready for the fair visitors in one or two days,” he added.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
