Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
The wall will be much like the Honolulu rail project in terms of problems with poor project definition, incomplete requirements, difficult land acquisition and never-ending litigation.
Read more
Mahalo for reading the Honolulu Star-Advertiser!
You're reading a premium story. Read the full story with our Print & Digital Subscription.
Subscribe Now
Read this story for free: Watch an ad or complete a survey
Log In
Already a subscriber? Log in now to continue reading this story.
The Trump administration will be unable to build significant amounts of the president’s border wall. The wall will require dozens of contracts to do the design and construction work. The procurement process will take a year or more and be subject to time-consuming legal challenges. President Donald Trump’s vague requirements will have to be refined into actionable technical requirements and engineering designs. Land acquisition, environmental impact statements and infrastructure such as roads and utilities in remote areas have to be completed before construction starts.
Even when the government owns the land and has access to utilities, it takes five to 10 years to complete a major procurement to the point of an initial operating capability.
The wall will be much like the Honolulu rail project in terms of problems with poor project definition, incomplete requirements, difficult land acquisition and never-ending litigation. If Congress gave Trump $5 billion today, the wall would not be completed in Trump’s political lifetime.
Garnett Howard
Ewa Beach
Click here to read more Letters to the Editor.
71