HAGATNA, Guam — Guam's highest ranking utility official says a U.S. military buildup delay is "inevitable" because the U.S. territory doesn't have the time or money to complete the project on schedule by 2014.

Consolidated Commission on Utilities Chairman Simon Sanchez said Tuesday that current buildup plans are just "too big, too fast."

He says a delay would just be a "recognition of reality."

Sanchez said Guam's utility upgrades could cost as much as $1.75 billion and it's unclear where the money will come from.

The military plans to move 8,600 Marines, and 9,000 of their dependents, to Guam from Okinawa, Japan, to reduce the U.S. military's large footprint on densely populated Okinawa.

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Information from: Pacific Daily News, http://www.guampdn.com/