Ground zero clean-up completed by June

The clean-up of the site of the collapsed World Trade Centre will be finished by June.

The end of the massive operation at the towers, destroyed by kamikaze hijackers on September 11, will come three months ahead of schedule.

And the early finishing date has left New York officials with a looming deadline to produce plans for what will fill the massive hole in the south of Manhattan.

John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the group set up to decide what will be done with the site said: ‘‘We don’t want that hole to be sitting there with nothing going on.

‘‘That could be the worst thing. So we are going to try to have plans lined up as quickly as possible to permit construction to begin as soon as possible.’’

Work on the first building to be reconstructed could begin by the end of this year, while public hearings will get underway in just six weeks on plans for the site.

The beginning of public hearings on the future of the site is likely to provoke controversy.

Already, differences have emerged over whether to build any new office buildings on the 16-acre site, or whether to turn it all into a memorial.

Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani used a speech as he quit office to call for a ‘‘soaring memorial’’, while new mayor Michael Bloomberg has indicated he wants a memorial and offices.

Larry Silverstein, the developer who signed a 100-year lease on the twin towers just weeks before the terror attacks, has called for four 50-storey blocks to replace the 110-storey towers.

Property expert David Shulman, of investment firm Lehman Brothers, said: ‘‘The faster things happen, the more positive it is for downtown.

‘‘Time is the great enemy of that whole area. If things go slowly, if there’s a lot of foot-dragging, you’ll lose downtown as a real financial centre.’’

So far, almost one million tonnes of debris and steel have been removed from the site, with work now concentrating on the former basement levels of the towers.

Captain Raymond Reilly, of the Fire Department of New York, who has been on the scene since September 11, said: ‘‘There were piles of compacted, twisted steel eight stories high into the air at first.

‘‘It was just so overwhelming. You wondered where to start.

‘‘Now it is a gaping hole four levels down into the ground. I just can’t understand how they did it that quickly.’’

The first step towards reconstruction will be taken in November, where the subway which ran under the World Trade Centre is due to return to operation.

Mr Silverstein hopes to begin work on an underground electricity sub-station which served the complex in November, paving the way for a 50-storey replacement for 7 World Trade Centre, which was destroyed as the two main towers collapsed.

But relatives of those who died are concerned that the prospect of rebuilding is emerging without public debate having started on what to do with ground zero.

A total of 607 bodies have been found and identified, while 1,974 people have been declared dead without a body being found and 314 remain listed as missing.

Nikki Stern, whose husband James Potorti was killed, said: ‘‘What do you do when on the one hand you have the economic necessity of moving lower Manhattan forward and on the other a group of victims' families that say you may not build on my loved one’s head?

‘‘It will never be resolved. But it must be addressed and the sooner it is addressed the better it is for all concerned.’’