WTC project cost to be at lower end of estimate

NEW YORK / Bloomberg

The total cost of the World Trade Center rebuilding project will come in at the lower end of the $14.8
billion to $15.8 billion range projected four years ago, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
official said.
The cost estimate was contained in a 2012 report commissioned by the agency’s board as it struggled under criticism that spending at the lower
Manhattan development site was getting out of
control, said Steve Plate, chief of major capital
projects for the Port Authority.
Plate spoke as he gave a tour of the
almost-complete transportation hub at the World Trade Center with its designer, Santiago Calatrava. The hub, with its distinctive winglike ribs, is scheduled to open the first week of March, connecting the authority’s PATH commuter trains from New Jersey with the New York subway system as well as
trans-Hudson ferries.
The transit center will cost between $3.7 billion and $3.99 billion, which was the estimate given in the 2012 report, according to Plate. The exact figure won’t be known until the authority completes some construction contracts, he said.
“We had an obligation to do something special,” he said of the transit hub, which had been criticized for ballooning costs. “We did it very prudently and intentionally to give the best quality, the best product and the best structure that we could provide to the city of New York. And we’re very proud to report that we feel very strongly that that mission has been
accomplished.”