Audit: World Trade Center rebuilding balloons $4B

[February 08, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- An auditing firm says the cost of rebuilding the World Trade Center has ballooned by nearly $4 billion over the last four years.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the lower Manhattan site. It has lost millions of dollars in revenue because of lower traffic at its ports, airports and river crossings.

Navigant Consulting said Tuesday the Port Authority is a dysfunctional organization that has let the World Trade Center rebuilding project's costs get out of control. The estimated cost has gone from $11 billion in 2008 to $14.8 billion now.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered the review after the agency's board voted to raise bridge and tunnel tolls in August.

The company laying steel for the main Trade Center tower has run into financial problems.

[Associated Press; By CHRIS HAWLEY]

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