A reminder those ferries were on track to being delivered this year and next, and the majority of the extra infrastructure costs were earthquake proofing - which is pretty significant in our country.
Looking forward to NZ First and National shutting down functionality, future proofing, longevity & infrastructure resilience while "showing off" about "saving money" in future though.
My calculation of 120% is based on the minimum published cost of $677 million to cancel I**-Rex-**, that's $677,000,000 - but it excludes the real costs (doubling maintenance costs, the 60% price reduction we had secured for next generation future proof ferries, the cost of downtime and retiring current ferries i.e rail enabled Aratere is being retired on Monday, future costs assuming the next purchase is not scaled to the same future proof specifications)
i.e. I'd say the real cost is at least $1bn upwards and all they needed for the ENTIRE PROJECT TO FINISH WAS $1.2 billion
Yes our last rail enabled ferry Aratere is being retired on Monday - and will increase costs
I need a job in government pronto if this is the standard of acceptable performance?
i-Rex ferries costs us in much more than the $677 million straight cancellation fees etc.
Our only rail enabled ferry Aratere is being retired on Monday, maintenance fees have gone up tens of millions, future proofing will now be relegated to lumping this cost on future generations
#nzpol
#irex