NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the Freedom Tower began nearly five years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, as the city and state officials welcomed construction workers and their heavy equipment to the World Trade Center site with a ceremony Thursday.

    New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York State Governor George Pataki, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and developer Larry Silverstein were among the honored guests to kick off the first day of construction. They shook hands with construction workers wearing hard hats with the slogan "Freedom Tower, World Trade Center."

    "It is going to be a symbol of our freedom and our independence," said Pataki at the ceremony. "It will show not just America but also the world that we are rising again."

    The new construction work begins a day after the Port Authority, owner of the WTC site, officially approved a deal with Silverstein that gives the agency control of the Freedom Tower and Tower 5.

    Rising a symbolic 1,776 feet in the air, the Freedom Tower is expected to be completed by 2011. The other four towers should be finished by the following year, barring any unforeseen obstacles.

    Silverstein, who signed a 99-year lease on the WTC less than two months before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said he felt "very emotional" as he watched the ear movers roll by.

    "What is so spectacular is the opportunity to come together as we all have in the last few days, for the purpose of rebuilding the trade center," he said. Enditem