Work on new Cook Straight ferries is back underway after the i-Rex project was cancelled in December. File photo. Photo: Getty Images / Hagen Hopkins
Picton residents are pleased to hear there will be two new Cook Strait ferries - more than a year after the government cancelled the previous mega ferries contract - but many are not convinced it will be any cheaper.
Piwaka Lodge and the Boathouse owner Nicci Fitzgerald said there had been a lot of uncertainty in Picton since the previous ferry project came to a halt 15 months ago,
The Inter-island Resilient Connection (i-Rex) project was cancelled in December after it was revealed costs had quadrupled from $775 million in 2018 to about $3 billion in 2023.
Piwaka Lodge and Boathouse Lodge owner Nicci Fitzgerald. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
She was "a little bit cynical" about the proposed cost being cheaper than the previous $3b price tag, but said new ferries were long overdue.
"We need to do it, it just needs to be done. I think there's been so much pontification and politicising it's become a real football and the point is that until someone dies, until a ship grounds or until there's a massive incident, I think we're skating on thin ice. It just needs to be sorted."
She felt that a further cost blowout was likely and that it would fall to Port Marlborough and Centrepoint to pick up the infrastructure costs.
"They are not going to have any idea of the costs until they do the scope of works so for Winston to come out and say it is going to be cheaper, I think that's pie in the sky."
Across the street at a local gallery, one resident said people just wanted to see the completion of work that had already begun.
"People are really frustrated that there's nothing happening, Picton's a touristy town, and there's nothing cheaper than what it is at the moment. No matter what price it is, it'll always go up. They've got to get on with it and do it."
In the back of a fish and chip shop, one resident who had lived in neighbouring Waikawa all her life was pleased to hear about the new ferries - but was also sceptical about the new price tag.
"I don't believe it, I mean, you're looking at three or four years away. You're going to tell me that the price is going to stay as it is or go down? No, I don't believe it."
Down the road at the local bookshop, another resident had similar concerns.
"They should have left it how it was. A lot of people moved here, there were jobs, it was going fine. I don't know why they decided to can it. And it's going to be cheaper? Yeah, good luck with that."
Picton Business Group chair and Freshchoice Picton owner Hamish Watson. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Picton Business Group chair Hamish Watson said the seaside town had been in limbo since the cancellation of the previous ferry project in December 2023 so the commitment to new ferries was a welcome relief.
"It's great to hear the initial stages of planning are going to commence because Picton people just want to see it finished, they want to see it up and going.
These ferries, the older ferries have been running for too long to a substandard condition."
He said it had been a tough 15 months with no certainty about the future of the Cook Strait connection.
"[It's been] quite an untidy time for Picton, you know, making good on projects that were underway and were halfway finished.
"Putting those back together seemed to take like a long period of time and as a business group, we had to apply some pressure."
Dublin Street had been closed for over a year so underground services could be moved and an overbridge built as part of the iRex project, but it was shelved before the bridge was built.
Dublin Street was closed for over a year so underground services could be moved and an overbridge built as part of the Inter-island Resilient Connection (i-Rex) project, but it was shelved before the bridge was built. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
A temporary Interislander terminal opened in June 2023, and the old terminal was demolished a year later to make way for a new terminal, but that too was put on hold when the previous project was canned.
Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor said the announcement meant the port and council could now move forward with plans to redevelop Picton's port side infrastructure.
"One of the things I'm really pleased about is the confirmation that as a country we're getting new ferries.
"I'm excited about that because they will be a new design, they have got increased capacity, they should have improved navigation systems and redundancies, that means improved safety."
Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor. Photo: RICKY WILSON/STUFF
She said similar to the previous agreement - there would be ratepayer investment as Port Marlborough is a subsidiary of the council.
"The council had agreed to on-lend to Port Marlborough $110 million, and that was after community consultation, and the community agreed that the value proposition for that stacked up. So we need to now, obviously, understanding the new ferries, start that conversation again."
The government has said a shipyard will be selected for the build and it will sign off on contracts, with infrastructure works to begin by the end of the year.
A level crossing was re-instated in Dublin St, after the planned overbridge did not go ahead when the previous ferry project was cancelled. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
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