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NEW YORK CITY-The board of directors of the Liberty Development Corp. has approved a resolution to induce Liberty Bonds for the construction of Towers II, III and IV of the World Trade Center site. The amount of the state's inducement is $1.67 billion. In July, the city is expected to induce additional Liberty Bonds totaling nearly $921 million toward the construction.

"Today's action on the state's remaining Liberty Bonds is another step forward in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center," says a spokesperson for Silverstein Properties, the site's leaseholder. "We are working aggressively to design the three Greenwich Street towers and, with financing in place, will begin construction of those towers as soon as the sites are made available." A revised ground lease is in the process of being negotiated by Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.

"This announcement marks another huge step forward in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan," adds Empire State Development chairman Charles A. Gargano. "We expect that this inducement will not only help leaseholder Larry A. Silverstein finalize the balance of his financing, but will facilitate the expenditure of funds at the World Trade Center site and accelerate real progress of construction."