London, September 8 (RHC)- The UK government confirms a plan to build a 13 feet (3.9 meters) wall in Calais, saying the work will begin soon. Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill told British lawmakers that the wall was part of a £17-million package of joint Anglo-French security measures to minimize refugee flow.

The government refused to confirm the cost of the wall, but reports suggest a £1.9-million price tag. Minister Goodwill told a parliamentary committee: "We are going to start building this big new wall very soon. We've done the fence, now we are doing a wall." Despite being called a “joint Anglo-French” project, the wall will be funded by the British government as part of an agreement struck at a summit in March.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called the wall "monstrous" while campaign group Citizens UK said the money could be better used to transfer child refugees with families in Britain from Calais.

Many of the refugees living at the Jungle and other camps in northern France attempt to reach the UK by getting on trucks as they approach ports or the Channel Tunnel. The wall will be the latest barrier to go up in Europe as the continent struggles with its biggest refugee crisis since World War II.