Proposals requested for building wall at Mexican border

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration wants to build a 10-metre-high wall at the Mexican border that looks good from the north side and is difficult to climb or cut through, according to a pair of contract notices posted to a U.S. government website.

The notices were made public late Friday by Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security Department agency that will oversee the project. The proposals are due to the government by March 29.

One of the CBP contract requests calls for a solid concrete wall, while the other asks for proposals for a see-through structure. Both require the wall to be sunk at least two metres into the ground and include automated gates for pedestrians and vehicles. The proposed wall must also be built in a such a way that it would take at least an hour to cut through it with a “sledgehammer, car jack, pick axe, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar hand-held tools.”

The government will award a contract based on sample walls that are to be built in San Diego.

Trump has long promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, which he has said is necessary to stop the flow of immigrants crossing the border illegally.

An internal report prepared for Homeland Security estimated the cost of building a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border at about $21 billion US.