"If the federal government won't guarantee insurance policies for catastrophic terrorists events, nobody is build and it is going to be a disaster, for this city and cities across America," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg's contention is that despite the red-hot real estate market in the city, development would grind to a halt without the extension of this legislation.

"Nobody is going to lend them the money because they might not get it back," Bloomberg told reporters afterwards. "There's certain things the private sector can't afford to do."

When asked if the legislation would impact Ground Zero - the most visible sign of stalled development in the wake of September 11th - Bloomberg said that it was more an issue of future projects.

"Well, Ground Zero, a lot of these projects are already going. It's every other new project in this city and throughout this country."

-- Azi Paybarah