UN NAMES CMP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000584

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC KUNR UNGA
SUBJECT: UN NAMES CMP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

REF: A. USUN 00053

B. USUN 000126


1. (U) On Monday, July 2, 2007, Ban Ki Moon announced Michael
Adlerstein as Executive Director of the Capital Master Plan,
the $1.9 billion renovation project of the United Nations New
York headquarters complex. The project will extend over the
next several years. Adlerstein, a Harvard trained architect,
has been the Vice President of the New York Botanical Garden
since 2002. He also served as project director for the
restoration of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.


2. (U) The announcement of Adlerstein as CMP executive
director followed a briefing the previous week by UN
controller Warren Sach on the status of the CMP to delegates
of the UN's Fifth Committee. The selection of Adlerstein
marks some needed progress by the UN. However, we are
awaiting selection of a construction manager. UN sources say
the announcement of a construction manager may come in the
next two weeks. Quick action by the UN to name a construction
manager is necessary if the UN hopes to make up for delays
and projected cost overruns cited in a recently released UN
Board of Auditors (BOA) report. The BOA recently projected
the CMP project is already $148 million over budget. The BOA
study follows a report by the General Accounting Office that
suggests costs for CMP are over budget by $128 million.


3. (U) In addition, we are informed that the UN secretariat
will soon ask for an additional 64 new security officer posts
to assist with duties during the course of the CMP project in
the 2008-2009 biennium budget. The Secretariat argues that
the guards are needed for pedestrian access control to the
UN, vehicular access control, internal posts and patrols,
posts and patrols for the swing space, and a canine unit
among other needs. We are awaiting a report that will spell
out the details of the proposal.


4. (U) Since the start of June, USUN has sent 3 separate
letters to the attention of the Undersecretary General for
Management asking for a status update on CMP . USUN is still
awaiting responses to those letters.


5. (U) COMMENT. The appointment of Adlerstein is one of two
key announcements the UN is expected to make this month on
the CMP. The second key announcement concerns the naming of a
construction manager. Adlerstein's expertise in historical
renovations, along with his experience in managing complex
projects, and knowledge of the New York City construction
environment may be helpful in getting CMP on track. Sources
report that Skanska US, a subsidiary of the Swedish
construction conglomerate Skanska AB will be soon named
construction manager. The delay in naming Skanska US as the
construction manager is related to allegations that another
arm of the Skanska conglomerate had been involved in a
bribery scandal on a construction project in Argentina. UN
officers informed USUN that a thorough investigation was
conducted by the UN Ethics Office on the matter. Based on
that investigation we understand that UN officials are
comfortable that Skanska US was not involved and that Skanska
AB took appropriate action to resolve the bribery scandal.


6. The conclusions of the GAO report now coupled with the BOA
report are sobering. We hope those reports will spur the UN
to move more quickly to mitigate or prevent delays and cost
overruns. USUN will seek to meet with Mr. Adlerstein as soon
as he is in place to press upon him the seriousness of delays
and cost overruns and the need for the UN to take corrective
actions immediately. In addition, we look forward to the UN
sharing with the US and other member states their plan for
getting CMP back on track.

KHALILZAD