Thank you. It was difficult to anticipate the result of the request for a proposal at the time that it was issued, Mr. Speaker, because the appraised value was substantially higher than the two bids that came in. At that point in time with the appraised value, we thought that if we
could get something close to that it would be satisfactory. As a result of the request for proposal that did not happen. As a result we had to relook at the situation after the request for proposal process was complete and evaluation done by the department and it was recommended that we have to relook at the plan of action.
Looking at the numbers over the next ten years, it was deemed that the best value for money was to retain the Arthur Laing building and utilize it. After all, Mr. Speaker, we are still in the stage where we are very strapped for cash and it would have been more expensive to sell the Laing building for the price that it would have come in at the same time as trying to get more office spaces in the private sector market. Thank you.