New York Ground Zero transit hub to cost twice original estimate

New York, Dec 3 (IANS/EFE) The transit hub designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava for the Ground Zero site will cost almost $4 billion, two times more than the initial estimate, the New York Times reported.

The daily detailed numerous delays and cost overruns in the already 10-year-long project, now expected to be inaugurated in 2015.

The new World Trade Centre Transportation Hub, meant to be a major symbol of recovery in Lower Manhattan following the Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has been surrounded by controversy since its conception.

The authorities' decision to build the station without temporarily shutting down a subway line that crosses the site slowed down construction and added some $355 million to costs, the newspaper said.

In 2008, then mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered that a memorial to Sep 11 victims be completed in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks, which scrambled the construction schedule and increased the cost by $75 million.

The tab has continued to grow thanks to a number of subcontracts approved by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is managing the project.

Calatrava's complicated design, which included an impressive metal and glass dome unsupported by columns, also made the construction difficult, the paper added.

The Spaniard's original project comprised a retractable roof, an option finally abandoned to cut expenses.

Additional delays and modifications have raised the current estimated cost to $3.7 billion, excluding several hundred-million dollars spent to repair damages caused in October 2012 by Hurricane Sandy.

More than $655 million have gone to cover administrative expenses, the paper analysis shows.

"We would not today prioritise spending $3.7 billion on the transit hub over other significant infrastructure needs," the Port Authority's executive director, Patrick J. Foye, said in October.

The station, which will be New York's third largest transportation hub, includes a large area for stores and restaurants.

--IANS/EFE

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