Not a single operational bed has been delivered by the Decmil modular build programme, despite the programme costing more than $143 million in taxpayer dollars, National Party Corrections spokesperson Simeon Brown says.

The contract, which was signed by Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis in November 2017, was meant to deliver approximately 1000 new prison beds by now but has not yet delivered one single prison cell. Kelvin Davis confirmed this in the Justice Select Committee earlier this week.

“While Corrections has recently terminated the contact with Decmil, the Minister has failed to give a timeframe on when these half built units will now be completed, and how much additional taxpayer money will be spent on completing them.

“The Minister needs to take responsibility for this rather than blaming other parties. This is a significant amount of taxpayer money and so far has delivered nothing for the investment made.

“The Minister needs to explain what he has done to mitigate this mess. New Zealanders are facing unprecedented numbers of job losses and an economy that has entered a deep recession, they deserve better than having hundreds of millions of their taxpayer dollars wasted on projects that aren’t delivered.”

© Scoop Media