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City Rail Link: Businesses Want Inquiry Into Auckland Council's Management Of Project
Felix Walton, reporter
Businesses in central Auckland are calling for an inquiry into Auckland Council's "incompetent" management of the City Rail Link project after a leaked document revealed it could face yet another delay.
The document was mistakenly published as part of the agenda for Tuesday's Audit and Risk Committee meeting.
It was removed soon after, but not before its contents were published by the New Zealand Herald.
It detailed the council's lack of confidence in French contractor VINCI Grand Projects and calculated a 50 percent chance the CRL would miss its November 2025 completion date. The City Rail Link was originally set to open in 2021.
Shobhana Ranchhodji runs Roma Blooms Florist on Albert Street - one of the businesses affected by the ongoing construction. She said the thought of another delay was too much to bear.
"What do they expect from us? We cannot continue doing business as usual," she exclaimed.
"They have made us hold onto construction finishing no later than 2021... [Then] 2024, 2025, 2026."
She said her business was sold a promise, and that promise had been broken again and again.
"All our savings, our life savings have gone into our business to help us stay afloat, just to breathe," she said.
"They tell us the station is going to make you, we're going to, we're going to be like millionaires. They are telling us now it's going to be delayed again. Where are those people? Where are those promises that they made?"
In a statement to RNZ, the council's director of infrastructure and resilience, Barry Potter, downplayed concerns raised in the report.
"We have no concerns with the delivery of the overall CRL programme," he said.
"There is no suggestion that the project budget or overall time frame are at risk. People will be stepping off trains in 2026, and this hasn't changed."
Central Auckland councillor Mike Lee found that hard to believe.
"The message from council management and CRL Limited saying, don't worry, all is well, that can't be true," he said.
"You know, the people of Auckland are not mugs, they know when they've been spun a lie."
He said the project was suffering from incompetent management.
"People are getting away with stuff which they shouldn't be allowed to," he said.
"Some of the questionable tactics coming from the contractor, the international contractor, but also, I believe, a deficit of competence in the way this project has been managed."
Sunny Kaushal owns the Shakespeare Hotel on Wyndham Street. He was calling for an official inquiry into the project.
"There should be a full inquiry into the City Rail Link cost blow-out and delays. The Finance and Expansion Committee should look into it. The Ombudsman should look into it."
Kaushal recalled speaking with a foreign contractor who explained how slow the project was moving.
"Two years ago, this French engineer, he came to Shakespeare, and I said, how is it going? He was saying it's very frustrating. I said, how come? He said, you know, there is two people working and nine people giving directions and nothing is happening," he explained.
"He said the work is the slowest that he has ever seen."
The now confidential report is set to be discussed behind closed doors at tomorrow's Audit and Risk Committee meeting.
Councillor Mike Lee was not on that committee but said he would be there.
"I don't normally turn up. I'm not on the Audit and Risk Committee. It's not something that is a major priority for me," he said.
"However, tomorrow I certainly will be there because I'll be looking for answers."
Lee said it was time for the council to be honest and transparent about how the project was going.
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