Auckland city businesses up in arms over City Rail Link disruption coming for 2020

Friday, 15 November 2019

An animated look at Auckland's City Rail Link project.

Auckland cafe owner Ming Chen is concerned about the impact new planned road closures in the city centre could have on his business in 2020 as part of the City Rail Link (CRL) project.

He is one of a number of business owners worried about the impending disruption. Work on the $4.4 billion rail project's tunnels and new underground stations is expected to accelerate next year and a number of long-term and partial road closures and diversions are planned in Wellesley St, Victoria St, Pitt St and Beresford Square.

'It's actually going to have a major effect on us,' Chen said. 'It's going to be a factor for all the businesses here, so we will have to see what we can do.'

He's owned the Sierra cafe at 120 Albert St for the last six years. Under the proposed closures the intersection of Victoria St and Albert St will be closed from January 2021 to July 2022, while the Wellesley St and Albert St intersection will be shut from March to December next year. He has already had to deal with the impact of the project on his cafe this year.

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'In the middle of the year they closed the footpath across the road from us so the people from SkyCity stopped coming to the cafe. And this year business has been slow.'

Cafe owner Ming Chen is concerned about the effect new road closures as part of the CRL project could have on his Albert St business in 2020.

And while business has gone back to normal more recently, news of more impending road closures isn't what he wants to hear.

Chen said he would like to know more about the Auckland Council and Government hardship fund for affected business owners. And being able to receive some form of compensation as proposed by Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff would help him weather the effects of the road closures.

The exact details on who will qualify for the hardship fund and how much they will receive are still being ironed out, and it isn't clear Chen would qualify for such support.

Some of the disruption Aucklanders have already faced due to the CRL project.

Melina Lam is the owner of City Photo at 47 Victoria St West and she is also concerned about disruption to her business. Victoria St will be reduced to one lane each way between Federal St and Elliot St between January and March next year.

'Of course it's not good, but what can we do about it? All of the shops around here have objected and we've been to speak to the council, but we haven't had any feedback since.'

Goff and CRL chief executive Sean Sweeney announced the major road closures on Friday as part of the project's next stage, which runs from Albert St to Mt Eden Station.

Goff and Twyford announced the hardship fund last month for businesses in Albert St affected by the delays in the project.

Goff said he expected to make an announcement on the details of the hardship fund before Christmas.

'At the moment CRL is working through that package,' Goff said. 'At the same time this package that CRL comes up with will need to be approved by both sponsors [the Government and Auckland Council].

'We're very conscious of the fact that we're spending, in the council's case, ratepayers' money and in the Government's case taxpayers' money. And the Government's also very conscious that this goes right across the country if it is seen as setting a precedent. At this stage it's focused around the extra delay that was caused beyond what was expected on Albert St.'

Goff said the money would come from a contingency fund CRL operated as part of the project.

'But it's still ratepayers' and taxpayers' money, so it's about finding a balance between being fair to people who've suffered from exceptional hardship and not loading too many costs onto ratepayers.'