Border wall prototypes will be finished by September in San Diego, marking one of the first steps to President Donald Trump's campaign promise of a wall across the southern U.S. border with Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news conference Tuesday that four to eight 30-foot tall prototypes will take about 30 days to build, but contracts have not been awarded for them yet, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The Union-Tribune said that Congress has approved $20 million for the prototypes and that has attracted bidders from across the country. Trump promised a full wall along the 1,900- mile border between the United States and Mexico.
Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said the construction will take place near Otay Mesa. Vitiello did not say why the prototype construction has been delayed from its original June construction date, per the Union-Tribune.
Firms will be expected to complete construction by September, within 30 days of their selection, Vitiello said at the news conference, according to The Washington Post.
The administration's 2018 budget sets aside $2.6 billion for "high-priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology," the Post noted. Included in that is $1.6 billion for "bricks and mortar construction" and $1 billion is for infrastructure and technology.
Trump said during a rally last week that the wall would pay for itself if it were made of solar panels.
"This way, Mexico will have to pay much less money," Trump said during a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, repeating a campaign promise that Mexico would pay the United States for the wall's construction. "A solar wall. It makes sense. Let's see. We are working it out. Solar wall panels."
According to NBC News, Vitiello would not say if solar panels would be included into any of the wall prototypes. He added, though, that contractors have been encouraged to innovate and noted that some companies had suggested they might include the technology.
"We're leaning on industry to show what's possible and doable," Vitiello said, according to NBC News.
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