Posted on 09/30/2002 2:23:20 PM PDT by HAL9000
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan unveiled a 1.094-billion-dollar plan to renovate the United Nations' historic New York headquarters over six years, starting in October 2004.In a report to the UN General Assembly, he said the 38-storey green glass building, erected in 1949 beside the East River, was "seriously deficient in safety, fire and building codes, energy efficiency and security requirements."
The essence of Annan's plan is to transfer the United Nations to a new, purpose-built tower while the landmark building is gutted and modernized for the 21st century.
Annual emergency repairs, construction and energy costs are currently below 30 million dollars, but are forecast to reach 116 million by 2019, Annan said.
Repairing the building on an ad hoc and emergency basis would cost 2.088 billion dollars over 25 years, he added.
Annan said he had "concluded that there is no choice but to proceed with the implementation of the capital master plan," which includes building a tower to house about 2,800 staff and conference facilities.
The tower would stand on a playground belonging to New York City immediately south of the UN complex.
Toshiyuki Niwa, an assistant secretary general for management, told a news conference that the UN would trade the playground for a strip of riverside land which the city would turn into a cycling track.
Construction could begin in October 2004 and staff would move into between 750,000 and 800,000 square feet (69,680 to 74,320 square metres) of office space in the new tower within a year, he said.
The headquarters houses five of the UN's main organs: the Secretariat, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council. The International Court of Justice is located in The Hague.
All would move into the tower but return to the existing complex once renovation is complete.
Thousands of UN staff members currently working in rented offices elsewhere in New York would then move into the tower.
Annan recommended financing the plan with an interest-free loan from UN member states over 25 to 30 years, and said work should start immediately, because each year's delay would add between 35 million and 40 million dollars to the final cost.
Implementing the plan "will provide a one-time opportunity to bring the headquarters into the future," he said.
In addition to removing asbestos, lead-based paints and other hazardous materials, the plan envisages upgrading the headquarters' technology and security.
Estimates for improving security have soared from 22 million dollars to 77 million since the terrorist attacks which destroyed the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center on September 11 of last year, Annan noted.
The upgraded system would include a security control room and crisis centre, closed-circuit monitors, extra vehicle barriers, bullet-proof and blast-proof glazing, new air intakes and monitoring equipment to detect chemical and biological hazards.
The plan also calls for a sixth conference room, with seating for 250 delegates, 250 advisers, 25 observers and 135 members of the media and the public.
So they're building an entirely new tower just to use until the original building is totally redone. Yep, there's UN efficiency for ya!
Isn't it cute the way the "news reporter" fails to list how much of that billion dollars will come from the US?
How about a whole continent of internationally recognized neutral territory? Make sure to bring a heavy coat and lots of penguin repellant.
10-4 0n move elsewhere. However, if they aren't leaving I suggest the bill for all this be split 50-50 between Teddy Turner and Billy Gates.
An Iraqi soldier stands in front of the U.N headquarters in Baghdad, September 19, 2002. President Bush urged Congress to authorize military action against Iraq, warning the United Nations that Washington was prepared to go it alone, as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accused Bush of lying to gain control of Middle East oil. Photo by Faleh Kheiber/Reuters
Awww...a Daisy Cutter costs a lot less than that.
The United Nations. The same U.N. whose secretary-general, Kofi Annan, stands as one of the chief ditherers over removing Saddam. Here are the ingredients of a conflict of interest.
Under the U.N.'s Office of the Iraq Program, which supervises the six-year-old Oil-for-Food Program, the U.N. has had a hand in the sale of more than $55 billion worth of Iraqi oil. Iraq ships oil out to U.N.-approved buyers under the terms of the sanctions agreement. The U.N. vets the inflow of "humanitarian" imports into Iraq.
The process is simple. Iraq contracts to import goods, and the U.N. gives the outside vendors cash collected from the oil sales. The U.N. has approved about $34 billion in such deals so far. The money it hasn't yet doled out--at least $21 billion--sits in U.N.-administered bank accounts. U.N. officials refuse to divulge much information about these accounts--not even the countries in which they're held.
Measured in dollars, this is by far the U.N.'s largest program. The sums involved are large enough--and their handling has been perverse enough--for this program to deserve more attention than it has so far received.
Well, of course. We can't leave Donnie out LOL!
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