Auckland City Rail Link: Minister mum on compo as Albert St businesses continue to struggle

Saturday, 24 August 2019

City Rail Link construction is affecting businesses on central Auckland's Albert St (video first published April 2019).

Sunny Kaushal struggled to pay his workers their wages this week, and says his business is facing a 'ticking timebomb'.

The Shakespeare Hotel owner is one of numerous business owners on Auckland's Albert St locked in a lengthy fight to be compensated for losses they blame on disruptive, and delayed, City Rail Link works.

Struggling owners are awaiting Transport Minister Phil Twyford's decision on whether a hardship fund should be set up to help the businesses.

A month has passed since Auckland Mayor Phil Goff pitched the proposal to his former Labour Party colleague. The move was a change of tack by Goff, who had previously spoken out against financial relief for business owners.

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Meanwhile, Albert St owners continued to watch their losses mount – Kaushal on Friday told Stuff his account with Progressive is now gone, with the Shakespeare Hotel's brewery arm unable to keep producing beer to stock in supermarkets.

Kaushal's situation is indicative of the challenges faced by many on the central Auckland street.

Roma Blooms owners Shobhana Ranchhodji and Jugdish Naran. Ranchhodji says CRLL has not given 'diddly-squat' to help Albert St business owners.

Roma Blooms owners Shobhana Ranchhodji and Jugdish Naran recently told Stuff their business faced an uncertain future.

'We have no idea what's going to happen with our business,' Ranchhodji said.

'There's so much uncertainty.'

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, left, is waiting for Transport Minister Phil Twyford, right, to respond to his proposal for a hardship fund for Albert St businesses impacted by delayed, $4.4 billion City Rail Link works.

On Friday, a spokeswoman for Twyford said the Transport Minister was yet to make a decision on the hardship fund proposal.

'As the Minister has said previously, the matter has to be carefully considered,' she said.

How to sink $4.4 billion underground - welcome to Auckland's City Rail Link.

'It is unclear at this stage whether it will need to go Cabinet.'

Goff approached Twyford on July 16 with his view that a fund for under-pressure small business owners 'has merit'.

But Twyford said other issues had to be taken into account before approving such a fund.

'The Government spends $4 billion a year on transport and much of that is on new infrastructure projects, many of which have an impact on businesses during the construction phase,' he said.

'We have to carefully consider the potential flow on costs for the taxpayer.'

Kaushal on Friday said businesses had been hoping Twyford would come to a decision by the end of July, but that date had been and gone.

In the meantime, he had started fielding calls from Inland Revenue and suppliers asking for what they were owed.

'Every day is very hard day' he said.

'Every moment is a ticking time bomb.'

City Rail Link Ltd chief executive Sean Sweeney has said the company would work 'to identify new opportunities' for business, while refining 'existing ones', as Albert St works continue until the end of 2020.

Earlier this month, Stuff revealed just $72,000 had been scraped together to help cash-strapped businesses, despite CRL's $4.4b budget.