We’ve all heard of Donald Trump’s pledge to “build a wall” separating America and Mexico. At first laughed off by some critics, it quickly became apparent that the idea actually had a good volume of supporters. So, if Donald Trump was to win the presidential election in November, and his plan to build the wall came to fruition, how much would it actually cost to construct? In this post, we aim to find out.
How Big Would the Wall Need to Be?
Nobody can ever say that Donald Trump lacks ambition. Although he may have renegaded on some of his more controversial policies, he has always stuck by his idea to build a wall to prevent immigration from Mexico to America. However, building a wall that stretches for over 3,200km is easier said than done – that’s almost 1,989 miles!
The actual wall itself wouldn’t quite need to be that long thanks to the presence of natural borders that are impassable anyway, effectively acting as a wall. The Rio Grande is a good example of this. So, for the sake of argument, let’s lower the length of the wall to 1,000 miles. In order to act as an effective barrier, the 1,000-mile wall would have to be around 40 feet high, otherwise it would be easy to scale it, making it ineffective.
How Much Would That Cost?
So, what would 1,000 miles of concrete built to 40 feet in height cost? Well, Bernstein Research suggest that the cost of the materials would be just short of US$1 billion. This includes $711m in concrete and $240m of cement.
Of course, this isn’t the entire cost, as this excludes labour. When labour is included, Bernstein suggests that the overall costs could come in at anywhere between $15 billion and $25 billion, which is significantly higher than Mr Trump’s own estimates of $10 billion, which he is adamant that Mexico will pay for; something which they strongly deny. Although it is possible to get finance for unique ideas, this may be one step too far without a willing payer. Equally whoever it is that’s lucky enough to secure the contract to take on this behemoth task should probably be prepared to look into invoice finance as Trump has some what of a track record for failed projects, leaving investors and contractors high and dry.
Why is the Cost So High?
The cost includes labour and materials but also other associated costs, such as the provision of the quarries, concrete plants and cement plans required to construct the wall itself. Concrete cannot be carried great distances, so new plants and quarries may have to be built to make the construction feasible.
Somewhat ironically, Mexico already has some of these quarries in place, so it may be these companies themselves that have the greatest benefit from the wall’s construction.
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