SYG BAN BRIEFS USUN ON CAPITAL MASTER PLAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000848 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017 TAGS: ACABQ UNGA KUNR SUBJECT: SYG BAN BRIEFS USUN ON CAPITAL MASTER PLAN Classified By: Amb. Alejandro Wolff, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 6. ¶2. (C) In a meeting on October 5, SYG Ban briefed Ambassador Khalilzad on his revised strategy for the UN's Capital Master Plan (CMP) -- the renovation of the UN's New York headquarters which is necessary in part to bring UN buildings in line with fire and safety codes. Ban asked Amb. Khalilzad for a signal of U.S. support for his plan, and for U.S. assistance in selling the plan to the General Assembly. ¶3. (C) The current CMP authorized in 2006 calls for a 4-phase approach to be completed in 7 years. As of summer 2007, the plan has already incurred $219 million in cost overruns; if overruns continue at the current rate the project will end approximately $1 billion over budget. ¶4. (C) Ban's proposal, developed in consultation with Amcit CMP Executive Director and A/SYG Michael Alderstein, calls for scrapping the 4-phase renovation in favor of an accelerated one-phase work schedule. He proposes that the entire Secretariat building be renovated at once over the span of three years while Secretariat staff work from temporary offices. Renovation of the General Assembly building would take place in two stages over the course of two years. ¶5. (C) According to Ban, cost savings from a more efficient work schedule would approximately equal cost overruns already incurred, meaning that the project could come in on budget. Ban told Amb. Khalilzad that this revised work plan is made more practical thanks to changes in the real estate market: the UN has already identified temporary office space in midtown Manhattan that will be available on a 4-5 year lease. A few years ago landlords were demanding a 15 year lease - far more than the UN renovation project required. ¶6. (C) Action request: We recommend the Department support SYG Ban's revised plan, which already has the strong support of the EU and Japan. We request Department instructions on an official response. KHALILZAD