NEW YORK (AP) Gov. George Pataki reportedly plans to unveil a schedule for construction at the World Trade Center site that would make the 1,776-foot spire in Daniel Libeskind’s design one of the first steps in the rebuilding process.

The governor’s schedule will include a timeline for the spire, a transportation hub and a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attack, The New York Times reported April 22, citing people close to the rebuilding process.

Pataki is expected to present the schedule on April 24 in an address to the Association for a Better New York, a group of business and civic leaders, the Times said.

According to the Times, people who have heard Pataki talk about rebuilding have said the governor wants those projects to be completed or underway by the end of his current term in December 2006.

Pataki also is expected to lay out a program of $50 million in short-term capital projects to make it easier for residents and workers to navigate the area around the site, including a temporary bridge over West Street and improvements to the Liberty Street Bridge, the Times said.

Lisa Dewald Stoll, a spokeswoman for Pataki, declined to comment on the content of the governor’s address but told the Times that he would ”outline his vision on how to proceed in the rebuilding of lower Manhattan.’

The Libeskind plan, which was the winner of a design competition, was selected in February. In addition to the spire, it features a complex of angular buildings and allows for 880,000 sq. ft. of retail space on the site.

Many questions about the rebuilding effort remain, including how construction of the spire will be paid for, the role of trade center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and the possibility that the city could take control of the sitethrough a land swap involving the trade center and the city’s two airports