<Mexican memorial for the 200th anniversary is delayed, expensive, and non-Mexican>

Celebrations of the Mexican Independence Day

Mexico - A massive monument that was supposed to add luster to the celebrations of the two-hundredth anniversary of the Mexican uprising for independence last year is delayed, expensive - and does not contain much that is Mexican, local officials complained on Thursday, as reported by the AP agency.
Ignacio López, the director of the company overseeing the construction of the onyx-coated tower, stated that he had to use stainless steel columns from Italy, quartz panels from Brazil, and a special lighting system made by a company owned by Germans. "About 63 to 65 percent of the material is from abroad," López said. "Those columns could not be produced in Mexico. When the materials needed for (the construction) do not exist here and are only available abroad, then they have to be imported," he added.
The monument consists of a 104-meter high central tower made up of a set of columns that will support onyx panels illuminated in a changing pattern by lighting panels enclosed between two layers of translucent stone.
The monument in the center of Mexico City was meant to be the highlight of last year's celebrations of the Mexican uprising in 1810 against Spanish rule. The design of the monument was intended to be a shining symbol of hope and inspiration in a country plagued by drug violence, which has already claimed more than 35,000 lives since the government launched its offensive against drug cartels at the end of 2006.
The costs for the monument were supposed to be around 35 million dollars, and the grand unveiling was to take place on September 15, 2010. However, according to López, the costs have escalated to about 90 million dollars, and completion of the monument is not expected before the end of this year. Although the monument is officially named the Pillar of Light, the tower has already garnered a whole range of unflattering nicknames, such as the Monument of Shame or the Monument of Mexican Dependency.
Nearly threefold cost overruns and delayed project completion have become the subject of bitter debate even within the Mexican government, which ultimately concluded that the problems were due to "incompetence," but not corruption. The architect submitted plans late and incomplete. Changes needed to be made to the anchoring of the tower, including deeper foundations than originally planned.
However, the Mexican government also bears part of the blame, as it came up with the idea to build the monument for the two-hundredth anniversary too late. The project was announced only at the end of 2009, and the final drawings and calculations were completed only in June 2010 - just three months before the expected completion.