Photo: Unsplash / EJ Yao
First this morning, large infrastructure projects more often than not go over time and over budget - so is it time for a new approach to costing them? Auckland's City Rail Link has blown out by another billion dollars to $5.5 billion - from the original estimate of $3.3 billion. Forsyth Barr Stadium went up $36 million in the construction process, and the budget for Christchurch's Te Kaha stadium has soared by $150 million. Last year Transmission Gully's $850 million budget passed the $1.25 billion mark. What was meant to be a five-year project took almost eight. New Zealand isn't alone in experiencing cost overruns and delays on large infrastructure projects, however a report from the NZ Infrastructure Commission notes New Zealand projects inevitably end up costing more than comparable ones overseas. Meanwhile an Oxford University survey of 3,000 projects worldwide found less than 3% were on budget and on time. Kathryn speaks with Geoff Cooper, Te Waihanga - New Zealand Infrastructure Commission's general manager of strategy. Also, Nuno Gil, professor of New Infrastructure Development and Director of the Infrastructure Development Research Group at the Alliance Manchester Business School in the UK, currently spending time at the University of Sydney.
