In 2018,
the Council began building a car park building in the city,
and in June 2020 it decided to abandon the construction with
a partly built car park. At the point the Council decided to
abandon the construction, it had spent $19 million on the
project. It was estimated that it would cost $9.8 million to
demolish the building and restore the site. In the end, the
Council will have nothing to show for the money it has
spent.
After looking into the project, we found that
there were several aspects of the project that did not
accord with good procurement or governance practice. This is
not what is expected when a local authority, or any public
organisation, is spending public money.
Our
letter comments on the Council’s procurement in this
case and contains important lessons for other public
organisations with similar
projects.
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