SMRs and AMRs

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Border Fence Is Not Likely to Be Done by Year’s End

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
NYT

The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that cost overruns, legal obstacles and other problems were imperiling its goal of completing the 670 miles of fencing and technological improvements on the Southwest border that President Bush has promoted as vital to securing it.

Rising costs for construction and materials and delays in acquiring land from owners could foil the effort to build the fence by the end of the year, said officials, who are now seeking more money for the project.

The officials, speaking at a Congressional hearing and in interviews, brought to light the latest in a series of problems confronting the effort to more closely monitor the border and stop people from crossing it.

The department has 341 miles of new fencing in place along the 2,000-mile border. But completing the project, they said, hinges on redirecting $400 million in department funds, much of which requires Congressional approval, from other purposes. Even then, the department may have only agreed on contracts or partly built the rest of the fence by the end of the year.

(Continued here.)

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