Security improvements planned for Los Angeles area airports after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 have run massively over budget. The implementation of the plans has been hampered by ever-changing federal design mandates and new technology. Los Angeles World Airports, which controls the area's four major airports including Los Angeles International Airport, has estimated that the projects are now $160 million over budget.
Plans made in 2002 to add state-of-the-art baggage screening equipment, more security cameras and eight miles of concrete-reinforced fences with motion detectors and cameras were expected to cost U$547 million and to be completed by the end of 2004.
Persistent delays to the project, which was given the backing of the Department of Homeland Security to the tune of $256.5 million, have been blamed on bureaucracy with government departments insisting on changes in technology and the size of the security expansion, reports Reuters.
