Auckland Light Rail (ALR) is paying about $920,000 a week to two engineering companies to plan and design the central city-to-airport light rail project and a further $310,000 to its own contractors and consultants.
The figures came from Transport Minister Michael Wood in response to a written Parliamentary question from National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown.
The Government has already spent $50m with about 200 different firms, including five big law firms and competing consultancies […]
“Instead of delivering light rail, Labour is now spending over $1.2m a week of taxpayers’ money on consultants working on more reports trying to justify a project which could cost up to $30b [twice the official estimate], which the Treasury has highlighted as a risk of further cost increases,” Brown said. […]
Brown said the money being spent on consultants for light rail should be used to help rebuild the roads washed away by Cyclone Gabrielle.
NZ Herald
Read more here. Discuss it on The BFD.