Washington, Aug. 1 -- US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has decided to cancel a planned upgrade and expansion of the American Embassy in New Delhi over ballooning costs, causing consternation among some in Washington, HT has learnt.

The renovation-which first broke ground before Donald Trump left office in 2021 and was estimated to cost nearly $874 million at the time-was one of the largest such projects undertaken by the US anywhere in the world. In a June interview with The New York Times, US Ambassador Sergio Gor said the project's cost had ballooned to $1.2 billion, with an expected completion date of 2036-nine years behind the original 2027 deadline-and announced that it had been cancelled.

A US State Department spokesman told HT t...