KiwiRail has settled with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard with a $144 million final payment following the cancellation of the Project iRex ferries.
In a press statement, Rail Minister Winston Peters was highly critical of previous media reporting that predicted a much larger figure for cancelling the contract for two large ships.
The decision to ditch Project iRex was among the first made by the Government after its formation in late 2023.
A procurement process has been under way for new ferries to be delivered by 2029, led by the Government’s new Ferry Holdings company.
“Doomsayers said cancelling the contract would cost the taxpayer the full $551m contract value,” he said.
Only having to pay under a third of the contract is not too bad. Well done to the negotiators.
“But these are some of the same people who accepted Project iReX ballooning from $1.45 billion when approved in 2021 to Treasury warning it was on course to $4b in 2023 thanks to eyes-bigger-than-their-mouths ambitions and absentee management. Even their criticisms blew out.”
$4 billion on the project was just crazy. Bluebridge have just done a new ferry that doesn’t cost taxpayers one cent. I’d rather spend $4 billion on new hospitals and schools than ferry terminals.
We’re still going to get new rail enabled ferries, and for a lot less than what the previous Government set in motion.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
No comments:
Post a Comment