US News
Memorial for 9-11 dead to cost 1 billion dollars
By DPA
May 5, 2006, 19:00 GMT

New York - The projected memorial for people killed by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center has been estimated at about 1 billion dollars, the most expensive memorial in the US ever built, news reports said Friday.

Construction officials gave the new estimate after reviewing zooming costs at the destroyed 16-acre site dubbed \'ground zero.\' The terrorist attacks killed 2,749 people.

By comparison, the National World War II memorial that opened in Washington in 2004 cost 182 million dollars and the memorial for the more than 50,000 American soldiers killed in Vietnam, which opened in 1982, cost 7 million dollars.

The 9-11 memorial, the spiritual centerpiece of the new World Trade Center, will be an underground complex, with pools, waterfalls and galleries.

New York government officials last month announced the start of construction of Freedom Tower, which at 1,776 feet (592 metres) will be the world\'s tallest building upon completion by 2011. It will cost 2.1 billion dollars.