WIPING out the abandoned and decrepit buildings that are the hallmark of bankrupt Detroit could cost nearly US$1 billion, and more over time, according to a report released Tuesday by a special task force appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama.

    The report estimates the city, which filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history last summer, will need “as much as US$850 million just to address neighborhood blight in the next few years.” Commercial sites, with their potential for environmental problems, will add US$500 million to US$1 billion to the total cost.

    Most of the money, 94 percent, would go to removing structures, and the report said “the uncertainties related to the cost of asbestos and lead abatement in these structures is the largest variable in the final calculations.”

    The report warned that because of the unknown variables “there may be cost escalation over time.”

    Last September, Obama announced a US$300 million effort to help the city and created the “Blight Removal Task Force.”

    Along with city leaders and the state-appointed emergency manager, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Treasury, local and state agencies and foundations assessed the conditions of neighborhoods.

    The city’s current bankruptcy plan depends partly on donations from foundations and nonprofit organizations, and the blight plan also calls for tapping nongovernment sources.(SD-Agencies)