Founder and CEO of Fantasy Dome, Mr Leslie Quaynor, has revealed that he has not recouped any of his investment from the now-demolished edifice when it was established in 2018.

Speaking on Daybreak Hitz with Andy Dosty on Tuesday, 19th March, 2024, he said that since the establishment of the Fantasy Dome five years ago, it has not functioned properly because of COVID-19 and other factors.

“Just when I started business in 2019, COVID came the next year. So for the next 2 and half years, I couldn’t work. And then right after COVID, around 2021 and 2022, they said they were going to do redevelopment. Then they started digging holes, which didn’t make it a medium to do business.”

“So technically not only have I not worked, I haven't even recouped any of my investments,” he added.

Mr Leslie further stated that in the lease he was given, the Trade Fair Company was supposed to provide a six-month notice and a space within the Trade Fair to relocate his property.

“They came back and said they are going to do re-rolling, so you have to move. But within the lease I had, they had to give me six months' notice to relocate me within the trade fair for the balance of my term,” he said.

However, he pleaded that he should be allowed to remain within the same space because he spent a lot of money preparing the land and he can’t afford to spend money preparing another space to keep the dome on temporarily.

“The toughest part is that the trade fair is filled with clay so you would have to excavate all of it and fill it. And that alone was two million dollars,” he said.

“Unfortunately when she [Dr. Agnes Adu, CEO of Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited] came and said we would make space for you at the other side of the Trade Fair, I said to her, ‘Does that make sense? It’s only a year left to the end of my lease, you want me to spend 4 million dollars to do just a platform, for me to leave in a year,’ he added.

The CEO of the Fantasy Dome added that all efforts to plead with Dr. Agnes Adu to allow him to keep the dome on the same land for a year failed. This prevented the Fantasy Dome from functioning.