ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Reacting to state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s claim that the planned Freedom Tower at ground zero could wind up an economic “white elephant,” Gov. George Pataki said Monday it “can be done in an economically viable way.”

The Republican governor said building the 1,776-foot tower was symbolically important for “showing the country and the world that New York is not afraid to build tall, that we still stand strong.”

Pataki has made starting construction on the Freedom Tower a key goal of his governorship that draws to a close at the end of this year. The construction has yet to start and state officials are now battling with World Trade Center leasee Larry Silverstein over how the project should proceed.

Speaking in an interview on the NY1 cable news station on Friday, Spitzer, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for governor, raised questions about the tower project.

“I certainly think that there’s a very serious question about the economic viability of the Freedom Tower,” Spitzer said. “The prospect that the Freedom Tower would be built and would sit there vacant as essentially a white elephant that would sap the entire cash available to build the other buildings, is something that is very problematic.”

The twin World Trade Center towers collapsed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that claimed about 3,000 lives.