From Newsgroup: nz.general

https://theconversation.com/nz-will-soon-have-no-real-interisland-rail-ferry-link-why-are-we-so-bad-at-infrastructure-planning-260279

Willis scrapped the ferry contracts, claiming a Toyota Corolla
approach would do. ôWhile ministers claim to have spared taxpayers a
$4 billion blowout on new ferries, Treasury papers show almost 80% of
the cost escalation lay in seismic upgrades for wharves, not in the
vessels themselves. Those land-side works will be required no matter
what ferries the country eventually orders.ö

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From Newsgroup: nz.general

On Sat, 05 Jul 2025 17:24:03 +1200, Rich80105 <Rich80105@hotmail.com>
wrote:

https://theconversation.com/nz-will-soon-have-no-real-interisland-rail-ferry-link-why-are-we-so-bad-at-infrastructure-planning-260279

Willis scrapped the ferry contracts, claiming a Toyota Corolla
approach would do. ôWhile ministers claim to have spared taxpayers a
$4 billion blowout on new ferries, Treasury papers show almost 80% of
the cost escalation lay in seismic upgrades for wharves, not in the
vessels themselves. Those land-side works will be required no matter
what ferries the country eventually orders.ö

Therein lies your explanation Rich. The cancelled Irex project was
never a ferry-replacement project but a port-upgrade project with new
ferries thrown in on the side. Thankfully common sense has prevailed
and taxpayer funding of infrastructure upgrades that could never have
met normal commercial funding requirements has been avoided.

Perhaps you missed the announcement that a replacement Bluebridge
ferry arrived in the past week. Not a cent of taxpayers money
required and it provides an identical service except for the burden of
rail.
--
Crash McBash
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