NEW YORK - New York City's new Croton water treatment plant will cost more than twice the original estimate of $992 million and it will not be finished on time, the city comptroller said on Tuesday.

In 1998, the city agreed to build the new plant after the federal government charged that it had failed to protect the water system. The plant, located under the Mosholu Golf Course in the Bronx, was first expected to be working by 2007, a deadline later extended to October 31, 2011, Comptroller William Thompson said in a statement.

It is critical that this work be completed without further delay to ensure that our water remains clean and civil penalties are kept to a minimum, said Thompson, a Democrat who is one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's rivals in the November mayoral election.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by tktk)

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