| Insurers to pay $2bn for building Freedom Tower |
| Our Bureau / Mumbai May 24, 2007 |
| The Spitzer administration announced the settlement of all insurance claims at ground zero yesterday ensuring that $4.55 billion will be available for rebuilding the World Trade Center site in New York, according to a report on the website of The New York Times. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land at ground zero and built the trade center, said the deal removed any uncertainty over how much money would be available for rebuilding, and would enable them to obtain private financing for the $9 billion project. The settlement is the culmination of a two-month campaign by the state insurance superintendent, Eric R. Dinallo, and involved meetings in Geneva, Paris and Delaware. The agreement was reached with seven of the two dozen insurers who had not already settled for a total of $2 billion. The other insurers had already made good on their claims and paid about $2.55 billion, the report said. "The train is now moving down the tracks," said Larry A. Silverstein, the 76-year-old developer who had leased the World Trade Center complex six weeks before the Sept. 11 attack. The Port Authority will get about $870 million from yesterday |
