Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Members of a legislative committee on Tuesday expressed serious reservations over the process of approval to auction the old Chancery Building at Washington D.C. owned by Pakistani Embassy.
The issue was raised during the Senate Standing Committee on Privatization, which held Tuesday at parliament house while Senator Shammim Afridi was on chair. The committee raised questions on the process of approval to auction the old Chancery Building at Washington D.C. owned by Pakistani Embassy. In the meeting ,as per the directions of the Senate Standing Committee on Privatization, a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put attendance to brief the committee regarding auctioning of one the two buildings in Washington DC owned by the Pakistani Embassy. Anwar, Director MoFA said that the Old Chancery building at Washington DC was sold to Abdul Hafeez Khan, a Pakistani-American who offered the highest bid of $7.1 million. He said that the Cabinet considered the summary moved by the Foreign Affairs Division and approved the recommendations of the Inter- Ministerial Committee (IMC) to sell one of the buildings. He said that the building was from 80s’ and a very old one. It was told that already a loan of 7 million dollars was taken for its renovation however it was later decided by the IMC, the only appropriate forum to decide the matter, to sell the property.
The committee raised serious concerns on its approval without the consent and intervention of the Privatization Commission, the official informed that a meeting was held in which relevant ministry of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Privatization participated and in which the decision took place, however the Secretary Privatization denied the fact that the Privatization Commission was made a part of this approval at any stage. Committee feeling dissatisfied with the process of approval of auctioning of the building deferred the matter for further report and deliberations by the Foreign Ministry.
The committee as previously decided that since the property of Convention Centre Islamabad did not belong to CDA and was sole property of the Ministry of Interior, directed that the Ministry of Interior be summoned to give briefing on its privatization, the additional Secretary Ministry of Interior put appearance and briefed on the matter. He said that Privatization of Convention Centre is not an attractive option unless and until there is a structured alternative plan ready on its privatization. He said that the convention centre Islamabad is an expensive property to keep and plan should be framed in a way that it is economically viable and the government has to bear no further cost.
