ISLAMABAD: Apart from dealing with important issues affecting Pakistan-US ties during his visit to Washington DC, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also likely to give the go-ahead for the sale of two Pakistan-owned buildings in the American capital.

A three-member committee, constituted by the PM, has already given its assessment in favour of selling the properties.

Talking to Dawn, Privatisation Commission Chairman Mohammad Zubair — who was one of the members of the committee — said the two buildings had become redundant and the best option was to put them on sale.

Other members of the committee were current Pakistani US ambassador Jalil Abbas Jillani and former principal secretary to prime minster Nasir Mehmood Khosa, who is currently serving as an executive director at the World Bank in Washington DC.

After moving into a new embassy building in 2003, which lies inside the diplomatic enclave, the old chancery building at 2315 Massachusetts Avenue and another building near Connecticut Avenue have no further use, Mr Zubair explained. The other alternative that was discussed, he said, was the option of renting them out.

“Putting them on lease and ensuring their constant maintenance is a full-time job, therefore the committee recommended they be sold as they could fetch a good price,” he said. Ambassadors, the PC chairman argued, were not cut out for assignments that involved building management.

Special audit

The committee, Mr Zubair said, had also recommended a special audit of the $7 million loan that the embassy had secured from the National Bank of Pakistan in 2010 — when the PPP was in power — for the refurbishment of the two buildings. “The repair work carried on the two properties is not worth $7 million,” he said.

According to the current exchange rate, at least Rs730 million has been spent on the two buildings.

A former ambassador who has served in Washington DC told Dawn it would be a blunder on the government’s part if it opted to sell the two properties, particularly the one located on Massachusetts Avenue, which was the heart of the city. “One may ask any Pakistani-American living in DC what the value of these two buildings could be, in terms of their location.”

Pakistan lags far behind countries such as India in terms of cultural and public democracy, the ambassador said, suggesting that the building on Massachusetts Avenue be converted into Jinnah House, since a proposal to this effect was already pending with the Foreign Office.

“The Foreign Office must learn from its Indian counterparts [and see] how its foreign missions are literally on a cultural onslaught in all capitals of the world,” the ambassador argued.

Further, these properties could be used for multiple purposes to generate revenue. While the government was only concerned with the effort that would go into their maintenance, “putting them on sale makes no sense”.

Talking about the allegations of misappropriation of a $7 million loan, the ambassador said, “Let the special audit determine the facts.” He said that the PML-N was known for creating situations where public properties were declared unmanageable and sold off.

“Prior to the May 2013 general elections, the PPP government was flayed for misgovernance by the PML-N day in, day out. Now, it appears that the PM thinks that disposing of national entities is the key to good governance.”

Talking to Dawn, a senior Foreign Office official who has direct knowledge of the proposal to sell the two buildings said that although a majority of his FO colleagues didn’t approve of the move, their hands were tied.

He said that only recently, a similar committee headed by Mr Zubair also assessed the commercial value of Pakistan’s Chancery building in London. However, in that case, better sense prevailed and it was decided not to sell the building.

“This time, it seems those who have initiated the move have done their homework properly,” he said.

“If the transaction of these two properties goes through, Pakistan will be remembered as a unique country, which willingly destroys whatever symbolic structures it owns the world over,” the FO official said.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2015

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