Ngawha Blowout Continues

New Zealand First MP Jim Peters is concerned about the escalating cost of the Ngawha Prison project.

Mr Richard Morris, Chief Financial Officer of the Corrections Department announced last year to the Law & Order Select Committee that his department had underestimated the cost of the Ngawha Prison and that the unexpected cost ran “several million dollars” above budget.

“The increase of the Ngawha Prison project funding has now reached $132 million, 50 percent above the original estimate of $88 million and with no allowance for the specific ongoing costs, which the Ngawha site will have. This makes a mockery of the original planning and consent applications by the Ministry of Corrections,” said Mr Peters.

“Did the Ministry deliberately understate the true cost of the prison at the hearings conducted by the Far North District Council and the Northland Regional Council, or did the ministry proceed without care?

“Tax payers deserve to know the transparent nature of budgets and spending, which were denied to the consent hearings,” said Mr Peters.

© Scoop Media