MP for Wigram

Canterbury Spokesperson

MEDIA STATEMENT

7th April 2016

Treasury calls city rebuild Government’s biggest fail

Treasury has slammed the central city rebuild as the worst performing of the Government’s major projects, says Labour’s Canterbury spokesperson Megan Woods.

“The Government has been dragging the chain on the central city rebuild for years – only 5 of the 12 anchor projects have completed business cases despite the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been spent. Cantabrians have been bemoaning the lack of progress and now Treasury has agreed.

“In their new report on the Government’s major spending projects, the central city rebuild is the only one to be given a red rating – meaning ‘major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which don't appear to be manageable or resolvable’.

“This is the second report in a row from Treasury to give the central city rebuild the worst possible grade. The Minister seems to have ignored the warnings and pushed ahead with a failed approach.

“What’s worse is that Treasury is now raising concerns about the way the transition away from CERA is being handled, warning that ‘project planning and transition planning are not well linked’.

“This is a clear warning to Gerry Brownlee that the Government is botching the rebuild of our central city and at risk of botching the transition. These warnings must be heeded and the Minister must change his approach,” says Megan Woods.

Treasury report available at: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/statesector/investmentmanagement/publications/majorprojects/pdfs/mppr-oct15.pdf

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