Pakistan has received three bids for a building that previously housed the defense section of the country’s embassy in Washington DC.
Diplomatic sources in the United States capital told a news daily that the highest bid of nearly $6.8 million is from a Jewish group that wants to build a synagogue in the building. The second bid is around $5 million from an Indian realtor, and the third bid is around $4 million from a Pakistani realtor.
Pakistani-American realtors working in Washington want the building to be sold to the highest bidder. One of them commented, “We should follow this tradition, also because it will create a lot of goodwill in an influential American community, which wants to use it as a place of worship”.
The news comes just a few weeks after Pakistan embassy officials told state media that one of the country’s three diplomatic properties in Washington was up for sale.
Other state-owned properties up for grabs in the US include Pakistan International Airline’s Roosevelt Hotel in New York. In this regard, the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) has directed the Privatization Commission (PC) to initiate the process of appointment of Financial Adviser (FA) to undertake the envisaged leasing of the Roosevelt site.
Pertinently, the government is considering a joint venture for a potential mixed-use development of the Pakistan-owned site.
