The $16 billion Ground Zero project is bogged down by cost overruns and slow construction and its most symbolic piece, the 9/11 Memorial, will likely not be ready for its planned opening on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, according to a Port Authority status report.

The downbeat forecast is expected to be presented by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to New York Gov. David Paterson and made public on Monday at the agency's monthly meeting, according to officials familiar with the information. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information early.

Agency officials say the report will not provide a revised timetable or estimate of how much the complete cost of rebuilding will grow at the sprawling site on the west side of Lower Manhattan. But one official said preliminary estimates -- which will not be referenced in the report -- see the cost rising anywhere from roughly $500 million to several billion dollars for the entire redevelopment.

"It's going to take longer to build and require more money," the official said.

Rebuilding Ground Zero is an extremely complex urban jigsaw puzzle, with the Port Authority in charge of fitting a myriad of commercial, transportation, retail and memorial pieces together. In addition to the 9/11 Memorial and a related museum, the project includes the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, three other massive skyscrapers and a PATH hub that will connect the city's downtown subway lines.

The Deutsche Bank building located just south of Ground Zero still must be torn down before the Port Authority can build another proposed office building for JP Morgan Chase. The bank building was contaminated by debris that fell from the Twin Towers as well as mold that developed later.

Other issues include related project work on West Street and the building of supports needed to brace the city's No. 1 subway line, which runs throughout the site.

While all aspects of the project are behind schedule, officials said it was clear the biggest delays come from the 9/11 Memorial and the Port Authority's own $2.5 billion PATH rail hub. Those projects are intertwined, because the 9/11 Memorial plaza will be erected over the western part of the rail hub, which will link PATH trains with the New York City subway system.

The memorial -- last estimated to cost $530 million -- was to have opened on Sept. 11, 2011, exactly a decade after the terrorist attacks that killed 2,750 people at the World Trade Center. One official said it remains possible part of the memorial might open on time, but that would require construction of a temporary access.

Port Authority representatives privately say timetables set by former New York Gov. George Pataki were overly optimistic. But they say there has been significant progress since the agency took control of the site in 2006.

The report on Ground Zero's redevelopment, which was requested by Paterson earlier this month, will call for an executive committee led by two top Port Authority officials and including other major players in the rebuilding process, the officials said. Those in charge would be Chris Ward, the agency's new executive director, and Susan Bass Levin, the agency's deputy executive director.

Ward and Bass Levin will be charged with bringing the parties together to hammer out new schedules and cost estimates, smoothing out conflicts and better linking intricate construction plans together.

Other participants will include developer Larry Silverstein, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, city, state and federal transportation officials and the memorial's planners, the officials added.

One of the officials who spoke explained the assessment will outline the "enormous complexities on each project and the need for multiple agencies to stop pointing fingers at each other and start resolving issues quickly."

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