Over the weekend The Herald pointed out that the cost of the City Rail Link (CRL) has blown out by $500 million to $3 billion following Prime Minister John Key’s declaration that the project will ‘almost certainly cost more than they thought’. This has angered three Auckland councillors who are concerned about where the CRL’s ‘no go’ point is.
Auckland Transport has confirmed that the cost of the CRL will undoubtedly rise to over $3 billion. Its chief executive David Warburton says the project needs more money in the rail network that could easily take the ‘combined project cost’ above $3 billion.
This comes as no surprise to councillor for Orakei Cameron Brewer, for North Shore George Wood and for Howick Dick Quax, who recently wrote to the auditor-general outlining their concerns and urging the Office of the Auditor-General to ensure a close oversight.
“This latest half a billion dollar cost escalation is exactly what we feared and hence why we wrote to the auditor-general last month. We all know the original budget, but no one has any idea still of the full costs and risks and where both will fall. This is unprecedented given the sheer size of the project and the fact that construction has already begun. Our concerns lie with Auckland ratepayers – present and future,” says Brewer.
Wood says councillors need to be given the full facts as to what is really known about the costs of this massive project. “The chief financial officer of Auckland Transport promised councillors up-to-date figures by June and we’re still waiting. We’ve been kept in the dark for far too long. I believe it’s time to stand back and assess the CRL project and consider if Auckland can really afford to go into such a project where the costs are not finalised,” he says.
Quax says just three weeks ago a senior council official assured him that a cost blowout on the CRL was unlikely. “I have been warning of the very real possibility of a cost blowout on the CRL for some years now. Overseas experience has shown that urban rail projects almost always underestimate costs and overestimate patronage. Sadly, it seems Auckland will be no exception to this rule,” he says.
All three councillors said they were disappointed by the Auditor-General’s relatively dismissive response to their concerns and hope she will take heed of this latest development.
