NEW YORK—An audit released on Tuesday showed the World Trade Center site construction is $3.8 billion over budget due to a “poorly coordinated capital planning process, insufficient cost controls, and a lack of transparent and effective oversight of the World Trade Center program,” according to Port Authority Executive Pat Foye’s summary on the agency’s website.
After listening to public comments at a Port Authority meeting on Park Avenue on Thursday, Port Authority Vice Chairman Scott Rechler said, “This has been a tough 10 years for the Port Authority, only to be made more challenging with seven different directors over the decade. … You need consistent leadership.”
Rechler is hopeful that the new Port Authority head, Patrick Foye, and other new senior-level staff will stay for a longer run. “When you have new leadership, you have new perspective,” said Rechler.
The new Port Authority board Chairman David Samson promised greater transparency starting with a reform to the Port Authority’s Freedom of Information Act policy. He said the agency needs to do a “better, and frankly smarter job of choosing our priorities.”
One New Yorker at the public session called the project a “dismal mess squatting on hallowed ground.”
Another called it a “500-pound gorilla this board is feeding.”
Another commentator said, “You’ve been doing the best job you probably can. ... Our job and opportunity now is how we work together to get this done.”
