The government action followed a proposal by the Kingdom Holding Company of Saudi Arabia for purchasing the hotel.

Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Bin Saud, who is the chairman and owner of the company, made the proposal during his visit to Dhaka in mid-March. A formal proposal was sent to the Board of Investment (BoI) after his return.

The committee, headed by Civil Aviation & Tourism Secretary Iqbal Uddin Ahmed, is expected to have its first meeting within a week.

Executive Member of the BoI Md Nazrul Islam and a joint secretary of the finance ministry are other members of the committee.

Convener of the committee Iqbal Uddin Ahmed said the committee has sought relevant papers from the authorities concerned to discuss and evaluate different aspects of the proposed deal.

Sources said the committee will assess the value of current asset, such as land and other properties, as well as the goodwill to evaluate an overall price of the hotel.

It will also look into the interest of the current management, the Pan Pacific Group, before taking any decision on the issue, sources said.

Mahmudur Rahman, executive chairman of the BoI, said he received a formal proposal for purchasing the hotel from the Kingdom Holding.

BoI sources said the company is interested to invest millions of dollars in Bangladesh's tourism and hospitality sectors.

The Kingdom Holding is one of the largest Saudi companies having construction and aviation businesses worldwide.