NEW YORK, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The rebuilding of the World Trade Center site in New York will run late, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

    Quoting the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, the report said that the "schedule and cost for each of the public projects on the site face significant delays and cost overruns."

    The 2.5-billion-dollar PATH station and transit hub nearby are not only behind schedule and over budget, but the final design is not even finished, said the report.

    Furthermore, on the south side of the site, the demolition of the Deutsche Bank tower will not be completed until sometime next year, at least 14 months behind schedule.

    The report noted that the Port Authority adamantly refused to offer new schedules or cost estimates, but some officials had said the delays could run up to three years.

    The cost overruns could extend into the billions for a project whose total cost is now more than 15 billion dollars, it said.

    The newspaper quoted a 34-page report issued by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Monday as saying that at the heart of the problems were overly ambitious completion dates that were probably inaccurate from the day they were announced.

    Although Port Authority officials publicly acknowledged the daunting problems on Monday, they were also eager to convey the sense that some progress was being made on the centerpiece, the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower, as well as on three other office towers, the transit hub and the foundations for the memorial.

    "The World Trade Center site is being rebuilt, will continue to be rebuilt, and it will be completed," Christopher O. Ward, executive director of the Port Authority, was quoted as saying on Monday. "The question surrounding the World Trade Center rebuilding is not if all of the projects will be built, rather when and for how much."