The US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) agency has selected four companies from southern US states to build concrete prototypes of President Donald Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico.
The prototypes will be 18-30 feet high, made from reinforced concrete and will be used to "deter illegal crossings in the area in which they are constructed" according to the CBP.
The CBP says prototypes will be used to "evaluate the potential for new wall and barrier designs that could complement the wall and barrier designs we have used along the border over the last several years".
The companies selected to construct prototypes are: Â
- Caddell Construction Co., Montgomery, Alabama, a 34-year-old firm that has previously been awarded contracts by all branches of the US military and the Federal Bureau of Prisons
- Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., DBA Fisher Industries, Tempe, Arizona, ranked as one of the top 25 sand and gravel producing companies in the US
- Texas Sterling Construction Co., Houston, Texas, which has 900 employees and specialises in "heavy highway, mass transit and bridge restoration"
- W. G. Yates & Sons Construction Company, Philadelphia, Mississippi, was listed as seventh on Engineering News-Record’s list of top southeastern US contractors in 2017.
It is estimated that the completed wall will be anywhere from 1,100 to 1,500km long and may need to be transparent to protect against catapulted sacks of drugs.
Construction on the prototypes is expected to start this Autumn. It is unclear when construction on the border wall will begin or be completed.
Image: Border fence between Tijuana, Mexico, on the right, and the US near San Diego on the left (Gordon Hyde/Wikimedia Commons)
