STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GROUPOF 77 AND CHINA
BY MS. KAREN LOCK MISSION OF SOUTH AFRICA TO THE UNITED NATIONS' PERMANENT ON AGENDA ITEM l24z CI*ITAL MASTER PLAN TO THE FIFTH COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY New York. 19 June 2006 Mr. Chairman, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on agendaitem its I24: CaprtalMaster Plan. The Group expresses appreciation to Assistant Secretaryreport (N601874). We are for his introduction of the Secretary-General's GeneralReuter to thank him for his professionalism, by saddened the prospectsof his departureand wish dedication and commitment to the United Nations and the Capital Master Plan project' We also thank the Chairman of the ACABQ, Mr. Rajat Saha,for presenting the report of the Advisory Committee (N6017/Add.38)on this item' Mr. Chairman, The Group continues to fully support the comprehensive plan for the refurbishment of the United Nations Headquarterscomplex and, as pointed out in our statementafter the adoption of General Assembly resolution 601256,we were very disappointedthat the Secretariat was deprived of the funds that were necessaryfor the refurbishment to proceed expeditiously. Resolution 601256requests the SecretaryGeneralto presenta more detailedbusinessanalysison the possibility of constructinga ,r"* p".-unent building on the North Lawn. The report before us, A/60/874, is presented to the Committee as a responseto this request. The Group notes, however, due to the lack of sufficient time and resources,that many details, which would allow facilitate the debate on the proposal for constructing a new pefinanent building on the North Lawn, have not been taken into accountin the report. For example,the analysisexcludesthe important aspectsof security and architecturalconcems and used the assumptionthat the new building would be exclusively for long-term planning purposes. No further of informationor analysiswas provided in respect swing spacerequirement. The Secretary-General, in his report, has recommended that the matter of a permanentbuilding be consideredindependentlyfrom the renovation' We note this recommendation and given the urgency of the situation, realize that this may be the choice we have at tho moment. The ACABQ, in its report, also pointed to this fact' of Where we disagree,however, is with the statement the ACABQ that the two issues' building, are not linked' that is, swing spaceand a permanent

Mr. Chairman, While Member Statesmay have to de-link theseissuesbasedon the situationwith which we are faced, it must be clearly recalled that the concept of a new building on the be Robert Movses playground",which would provide swing space and then subsequently Master Plan when it was utilized as a coniolidation building, were integral to the Capital approvedby Member States.Therefore the matter cannot be simply dismissedas it would uppru. from some statements, that it is separatefrom our consideration of the CMP. Much of the additional cost with which we are currently faced is due to the reneging on commitments by the Host country and collapsing of many of the assumptions that initially underpinned it, including the availability of a swing space' The SecretaryGeneral'sreport has pointed to many factors that merit consideration' Mr. Chairman, The Group reiterates its commitment to the Project and does not wish to see any further delay in its implementation. While strategy 4 may seem to be the immediately most feasibie option, we believe that the option of having this additional capacity in terms of a new building should remain open and concerted efforts should be made to undertake a more detailed, thorough and objective analysis of the idea of constructing a new pennanentbuilding on the North Lawn. Mr. Chairman, One of the urgent issues that has to be decided at this Sessionis that of the financing of the CMP. There are certain questionswhich the Group would need to have clarified in our considerationof this issue and we expect that thesewould be addressed Reuter during the informal consultations. We agree with Assistant-Secretary-General "Plan" to a "Project"' that the time has come to move from a I thank you.