The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey issued a 34-page progress report on construction at Ground Zero that noted that "while significant progress has been made, the schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the pubic are not realistic."

In a letter to Governor David A. Paterson, Christopher O. Ward, executive director of the Port Authority, wrote that "the schedule and cost for each of the public projects on the site face significant delays and cost overruns," adding that "we found that at least 15 fundamental issues critical to the overall project had not yet been resolved, many of which are in the control of stakeholders other than the Port Authority."

"To forecast completion dates and costs before these fundamental issues have been resolved - and before engineering and construction professionals have validated the schedule and cost impacts of those decisions - would only create a new set of commitments and expectations that are unrealistic," Mr. Ward continued.

He said that it is time for the design of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub "be made to conform to real budget and schedule expectations, which will require tough decisions that have not been candidly addressed up to now." "While the Oculus, the term given to the Terminal Hall Structure designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, will remain in place, it is being reviewed for potential design savings such as build a structure that does not open and close entirely," the report said.

The report maintained that the a security plan needs to be resolved between the authority and the mayor's office because the design, completion deate and cost of the Vehicle Security Center depend upon the plan.

In addition, the report said that "the decontamination and deconstruction of 130 Liberty Street (the former Deutsche Bank Building), and resolution of a land-rights issue with St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church" must also be addressed.

Mr. Ward said that the involvement of 19 public agencies, two private developers, 101 different construction contractors and sub-contractors and 33 different designers, architects and consulting firms have made for "a construction challenge that is complex as any in the world."

The good news, he continued, is that "every major project of the site has begun construction: the Freedom Tower is now rising about street level; excavation and construction of the foundations for Towers 2, 3, and 4 and associated retail are well underway; the foundations and footings for the Memorial and Museum are nearing completion, with steel slated to arrive soon; and the foundation work of the WTC Transportation Hub has begun while the temporary North Access for the PATH Station has already been completed."

One of the great hurdles at the site has been that "the entire length of the MTA # 1 subway line that cuts directly through the middle of the site has had to be 'underpinned' - literally suspended in air by steel rods - to allow the subway to operate as usual, while construction continues, over, under, and around it."

An article by Charles V. Bagli in today's on-line edition of The New York Times reported that the authority's board of commissioners revealed a meeting this afternoon "that the planned National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum would not be completed by 2011 -- when the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks will be observed."

"The rebuilding effort is not where it should be and it is not where we promised it would be," Mr. Paterson declared in a statement, adding that he has asked the authority work with all of the stakeholders and provide him "with a set of real schedules and budgets by September 30 to which both the Port Authority and I will be held accountable."