New tower to be built at ground zero by 2006

The Governor of New York, George Pataki, has vowed that the main elements of the new development at ground zero in Manhattan, including the steel skeleton of a signature office tower, will be in place in time for the fifth anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attack on the twin towers.

The announcement is a response to increasing disquiet among business leaders and residents that the pace of rebuilding at the site appears to have stalled and that nothing is being done to fill the giant hole that still remains where the two towers stood.

"This is not a theoretical proposal destined for the archives of state government," Mr Pataki said in a speech at a hotel overlooking the trade centre site. "When our work is done, the history of lower Manhattan will have been written not by the terrorists who attacked our city, but by the millions of New Yorkers who stood up to defend it, and who worked to rebuild it."

Under his proposal, the steel structure of a 1,776ft (540-metre) skyscraper, designed by Daniel Libeskind, will be topped off in time for the anniversary in September 2006. The Governor also wants the substructure of a memorial to be finished, and a comprehensive new transport hub that will link lower Manhattan to the main airports in the area and New Jersey.

Mr Pataki also pledged $50m (£31m) for short-term improvements aimed at sprucing up the neighbourhood before next summer, when the city is due to host the 2004 Republican Party presidential convention. This will include the building of a new high school and work at opening up Lower Broadway. He added that his own offices of the State Governor would be the first tenant to move into the Libeskind tower.

Libeskind has designed buildings around the world, including the Jewish museum in Berlin, and is currently working on an extension to the Victoria and Albert museum in London.