Knock me over with a feather...
From
The Telegraph:
'Incompetent' refurbishment costs UN £1bn
The United Nations is facing fresh accusations of bureaucratic incompetence after the disclosure that renovation costs for its vast New York headquarters have rocketed to nearly £1 billion.
The projected bill for the scheme, which includes updating the 1950s building and a makeover for the Secretary General's New York residence, has risen by nearly two-thirds from an original 2002 estimate of $1,170 million (£600 million) to $1,900 million.
Kofi Annan, the departing Secretary General, presented a confidential progress report at a closed-doors meeting of the UN General Assembly last week, of which The Sunday Telegraph has obtained details.
The document's revelations will be seized on by critics of the world body, who have often viewed its sprawling 38-floor offices as a symbol of UN incompetence and inefficiency in the wider world.
John Bolton, the outgoing American ambassador to the UN and one of its fiercest critics, famously once remarked that if the building lost its top 10 storeys, "it wouldn't make a bit of difference".
And some people in NYC who know what it costs to build a building have expressed a bit of surprise:
The spiralling figures involved have astonished New York property moguls such as Donald Trump, who claimed that the costs were being pushed up by "incompetents".
"It's the most ridiculous construction development I have ever witnessed," he said. "It's being run by a bunch of incompetents, and it's a disgrace to this country. It should cost $700 million, but I bet it will now end up costing $3.5 billion."
Meanwhile, Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean diplomat who is due to take over from Mr Annan in the New Year, will spend the first nine months of his tenure in a hotel while his Manhattan residence receives an urgent $4.3 million makeover.
The only bright side is that this is a fitting capstone for Kofi Annan's tenure at the UN. All of the Oil-For-Food scandals, his son Kojo with the $500K Mercedes and the villa in Switzerland and lavish lifestyle, the horror in Darfur that kept going on for six years until it finally got 'noticed' and now, the UN is unable to stop the slaughter.
Good riddance and let us hope that Mr. Ban Ki Moon will bring some fresh air into that corrupt cesspit.
Posted by DaveH at December 10, 2006 11:30 PM