ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: The proposed sale of PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel in New York was opposed by a majority of members of the Senate standing committee on defence on Friday, with several of them terming the controversial deal of the profit-making unit reportedly at half its price a ‘national tragedy’.

During a heated debate featuring biting remarks and observations, some members questioned the growing influence of the Citigroup in the privatisation process of a number of public units.

The committee’s chairman Senator Nisar Memon averted a walkout by members in protest against not being allowed to speak freely on the issue and a unanimous resolution demanding an immediate end to the sale process.

The committee decided to convene another meeting on the deal allegedly being made despite opposition by the hotel’s owner -- the PIA Investments -- after seeking detailed information from the PIA board and the Privatisation Commission.

Senators Rukhsana Zubairi, Prof Khurshid Ahmed, Dilawar Abbas and Kamran Murtaza severely criticised what they termed flawed valuation of the hotel and the overall privatisation policy of the government and the inability of the PC to sell sick units.

They said profit-making units like the Pakistan Telecommunication Company, Habib Bank and Pakistan State Oil were being sold in haste.

They said the hotel was operating at a loss from 1980 to 1997, but when it was turning around it was being sold.

“It is a stupid idea to sell such a valuable property in one of the world’s prime locations, for buying aircraft,” Senator Naeem Hussain Chatta observed.

Some members said a consortium led by Citibank had put the Roosevelt Hotel’s value at around $400 million, while $1 billion was being offered by New York-based real estate developers.

The 20-storey hotel in the heart of Manhattan has 1,013 rooms, including 47 suites. It was priced at $325 million in 1999 before being refurbished in 2003. Some real estate executives say the hotel on a one-acre parcel bound by Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues between 45th and 46th Streets can be demolished to make way for a skyscraper worth over $1.2 billion. It has 15 tenants occupying some 20,000 square feet of retail space.

Privatisation Commission officials informed the committee that the government was determined to sell the hotel. PIA Chairman Zafar A. Khan admitted that the hotel was earning profit.