Last Wednesday, , the deputy British Prime Minister, summoned 35 leading company chairmen and chief executives to a meeting to persuade them to back the Greenwich Millennium Exhibition project. It is estimated the exhibition will cost UKP 340 million (USD 510 million), with UKP 200 million (USD 300 million) coming from the British government's Millennium Commission, funded by the National Lottery, providing that the funds are matched from British industry.
The Sunday Times reported that a number of leading British companies have signed up this recently as sponsors of the proposed , easing fears that the event might have to be scrapped because of a lack of private-sector support.
The companies reported to have signed up are:
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Amec
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BAA
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British Aerospace
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London Electricity.
Granada and Channel 4 are reportedly close to signing up.
The signing-up of corporate backers has been organised by Sir Peter Levene, who has been supervising the business plan for the exhibition. Sir Colin Marshall, chairman of BA, has also helped to persuade companies to support the project.
The exhibition will be themed around the concept of "time", and will consist of 12 pavilions, with cUKP 12 million (USD 18 million) in sponsorship per site. Each pavilion will be sponsored by one company or a group from the same industry. Not all the companies that have signed up have committed the full UKP12m (USD18m), but each has pledged several millions.
Marshall said: "My impression is that quite a lot of companies are going to come back with a positive answer. We will support it in a significant way."
It is estimated that the exhibition will attract at least 11m visitors in the year 2000, and the number could be as high as 20m.
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