By Mkinga Mkinga
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. The government has defended the purchase of a $24.5 million (Sh41.6 billion) office block in New York, US,  recently.The minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe (pictured), told The Citizen on Saturday that it was a wise move to buy the property in a prime area of one of the most expensive cities in the world.

“The six-storey building would  be highly beneficial to Tanzania. Our embassy will occupy only two floors while the rest will be hired to businesses and resultant revenue out of the project will fund diplomats in other countries like Canada,” Mr Membe said in an interview on Thursday.He said since it was bought, the country has collected about $150,000 (Sh255 million) to $200,000 (Sh340 million) as renting fee for one month.

The 40,000-square-foot building, between First and Second avenues, was put on the market by a Philadelphia-based real estate investment firm Amerimar Enterprises in September 2010.

Asked if it was necessary to incur the huge costs while there is another state-owned building in Washington, Mr Membe said the two would serve varied national interests. According to him, the New York  building will deal with multilateral issues, while that in Washington will handle bilateral arrangements.  

Currently, Tanzania has 32 embassies abroad, which the minister indicated would  increase to 50 in future.  The minister said having an office in New York is even better for issues relating to the United Nations, giving an example of Cuba which has no diplomatic relations with America, but  has an office in New York for its relations with the UN.

The building was in 2005 reportedly bought by Amerimar from a company named Mittman Associates for $15.45 million (Sh27 billion), meaning Tanzania has bought it for about $9 million (Sh15.3 billion) more. Mr Membe, however, defended the new price, noting that the city was expensive and would always guarantee a return on the investment.

 The minister also assured the nation that all procedures were observed and major stakeholders were involved before the deal was sealed. “We involved the Finance and Economic Affairs ministry, Works, particularly the Tanzania Building Agency, Attorney General’s chambers, Foreign Affairs and auditors, so this has been a clean and clear deal,” Membe said.

In August, Tanzania also  HYPERLINK "http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/tanzanian-mission-buys-li-property" \t "_blank" bought a Great Neck, Long Island centre hall colonial house for $1.26 million (Sh2 billion). Orly Hollander of Laffey Fine Homes, who was the listing agent on the property, said at the time that the home to Tanzanian diplomat with his children

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