The former Harrington Sound Post Office could be sold for $700,000, according to a draft Sale and Purchase Agreement.

The document, tabled in the House of Assembly last Friday, lists the potential buyer as Frank Martin Pollard.

In addition to the Hamilton Parish property itself, the buyer would obtain the former post office building, which is described as: “part single/part two-storey, consisting internally of an open space, a kitchenette, toilet and a secure store room to the rear of the main building. At a lower level is another toilet and a detached store.”

The draft documents call for $70,000 deposit for the land purchase. The post office was closed in November 2014 and the property was formally put up for sale last May. Craig Cannonier, the Minister of Public Works, later stated that the ministry had identified 30 government buildings that it would be looking to sell off.

The move was described as part of a policy intended to reduce rent payments and the overall deficit while improving efficiency.

Mr Cannonier said of the initiative in January: “The ministry is charged with managing about 800 buildings, which for an island and government this size is pretty unprecedented.

“Over the years we have taken an inventory of what we have and we are now asking the question, ‘What do we need to be efficient?’

“The challenge is that many of them have not been maintained and have just been sitting there falling apart.

“We have some valuable real estate here and if it does not fit within the asset management plan then we need to ask why are we holding on to them when they could be well used by the public, non-profit organisations, first-time homeowners or even new hotel development.”

Mr Cannonier said that the sale of Harrington Sound Post Office was the pilot phase of the policy of selling off government land and had prompted a “phenomenal response”.