The families of nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks will commemorate their eighth anniversary today amid anger and embarrassment that New York’s “Ground Zero” remains a hole in the ground.

Sally Regenhard, who lost her fireman son, Christian, will attend the memorial service at the site as she does every year. But she voiced outrage at delays in replacing the twin towers with the planned memorial and museum, five skyscrapers and an underground station.

“The lack of progress is very, very disappointing,” Ms Regenhard said. “It’s outrageous that after eight years we basically have nothing.” The frame of the planned “Freedom Tower” is finally rising above street level on the way to its symbolic height of 1776ft, marking the year of US independence.

But it has been renamed 1 World Trade Centre amid suspicions that it was rebranded because the first commercial tenant is a Chinese company.

Three other skyscrapers — including two designed by marquee British architects Lord Foster and Lord Rogers — may be reduced to stumps of retail outlets because of the economic downturn. The final skyscraper has yet to be designed.

Plans call for the museum to be buried 70ft underground. “It’s ridiculous. I feel it’s dangerous,” Ms Regenhard said. “I am one of many family members who will not go underground to visit.”

A recent poll found that 61 per cent of New Yorkers think that the planned memorial would will not be open on schedule for the 10th anniversary in 2011, and 63 per cent said the erstwhile Freedom Tower would not be finished by its target date of December 2013.

The poll by Quinnipiac University found that 25 per cent of New Yorkers said the slow pace of work made them ashamed — the highest number since the question was first asked in 2006.

“We’re getting fed up with the continual lack of progress at Ground Zero. And we think it’s important that there be some signs of movement this year,” Maurice Carroll, the director of the polling institute, said.

Charles Wolf, who lost his British wife Katherine, said, however, that the families had been assured that memorial will open on time in 2011, even though the surrounding plaza will not be complete.

“I am pleased they have been able to engineer things so work on the memorial can proceed, so by the 10th anniversary we can have something with working waterfalls on the site of both towers,”

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