Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that the estimated $320 million (298 million euros, at current exchange rates) price tag for the project includes transporting the equipment and pier sections from the U.S. to the Gaza coast, as well as construction and aid delivery operations. Satellite photos analyzed Monday by The Associated Press show the USNS Roy P. Benavidez about five miles (eight kilometers) offshore from the port city, where the project's staging base is being built by the Israeli military. The USAV Gen. Frank S. Besson Jr., an Army logistics ship, and several other Army vessels are with the Benavidez and are working to build what the military calls a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, system. A U.S. military official late last week confirmed that the Benavidez had begun construction and was far enough offshore to ensure that troops building the platform would be safe. Singh added Tuesday that the next step will be to build the pier, which will be anchored to the beach. U.S. and Israeli officials have said they hope to have the floating pier in place, the pier connected to the shore and operations underway by early May. The cost of the operation was first reported by Reuters. According to the U.S. military's plan, aid will be loaded onto commercial ships in Cyprus to sail to the staging platform now under construction off Gaza. The pallets will be loaded onto trucks, which will be driven onto smaller vessels that will travel to a two-lane floating causeway. The 1,800-foot (550-meter) causeway will be attached to the shore by the Israel Defense Forces. The U.S. military official said a U.S. Army engineering unit has been working with an Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, engineering unit for the past several weeks to practice setting up the causeway, training on an Israeli beach. The new port is just southwest of Gaza City, just north of a road that cuts across Gaza that the Israeli military built during the current fighting with Hamas. The area was the most heavily populated part of the territory before the Israeli ground offensive began and sent more than a quarter-million people fleeing south toward the Egyptian border town of Rafah. Aid has been slow to reach Gaza, with long lines of trucks waiting for Israeli inspections. The U.S. and other nations also have made air drops of food into Gaza. The U.S. military official said deliveries over the causeway will initially total about 90 truckloads a day and could quickly increase to about 150 truckloads a day. Aid groups say hundreds of such truckloads are needed each day to enter Gaza. See Also: Estados Unidos retiram soldados do Chade e do Níger (Portuguese version)