Agreement on Funds for 9/11 Memorial Museum Construction, Work to Resume

The impasse that has delayed the construction of a museum on the World Trade Center site seems to have passed. On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, city officials have reached an agreement to ensure the completion of the museum.

Under the agreement, the Memorial foundation headed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg will forgo the $17 million it believes it is owed from the Port Authority. The Port Authority, run by the New York and New Jersey governments and which owns the site, in turn, has agreed to resume construction, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"As Chairman of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum board, which is made up of supporters and family members who so successfully opened the completed Memorial last year, my goal during this period has been to get construction on the museum restarted. This agreement ensures that it will be restarted very soon and will not stop until the museum is completed,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

“The museum is important to the families of those who died on 9/11 - they've contributed photos and memories of their lost loved ones, who deserve a thoughtful tribute. The museum is important to the historical record and will preserve materials and artifacts of great significance that tell the story of what happened on that terrible day,” he said.

Construction activities had earlier come to a standstill because of a fight regarding who would fund escalating construction costs. According to reports New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wanted more funding from Bloomberg’s foundation as operating costs had ballooned.

In 2006, Mayor Bloomberg sought to cap building expenses at $500 million. “There's just not an unlimited amount of money that we can spend on a memorial,” Bloomberg told Newsmax. However, the current estimates vary from $710 million to $1.4 billion, BBC reported.