Transmission Gully completion date extended with further delays likely

Friday, 28 June 2019

The $850m Transmission Gully project is unlikely to open on time

The $850 million Transmission Gully project is unlikely to open on time.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), on Friday, said it had already agreed to one month extension of the project's planned completion date – from April 2020 to May 2020 – but hadn't ruled out more delays.

The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake and floods that hit the region were behind the first extension, project delivery manager Andrew Thackwray said.

'Other events during the construction period have also caused delays in the completion of some critical construction components, which are still being assessed.'

An aerial photo of the project shows the scale of works.

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Sources from within the project told Stuff that further delays could result in daily penalties of up to $365,000 for the contractor but Thackwray said any additional costs would not be worn by the taxpayer.

Construction began on the 27 kilometre-long project in 2015 with 2020 touted as the year traffic would finally flow onto the fast-road to Wellington.

Once completed, the motorway will link with the Kāpiti expressway which in turn joins the Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway (PP20). In March, Stuff revealed the $330m PP2O was also delayed and would not meet its planned completion date of 2020.

The Kāpiti expressway is also under repair, more than two years after it opened and is not expected to be finished until later this year.

The highway will stretch for 27 kilometres and comes at a cost of $850m.

While Thackwray said the project was still on track to open in 2020, the exact opening date was uncertain.

'Poor weather is one of a number of factors that could cause delays to the opening date. The NZ Transport Agency will make a further assessment of the expected opening date later this year and will make announcements once the opening date is more certain.'

Initially, the consortium building the expressway was contractually obliged to have the highway completed by April 2020 but the agency had agreed to the 20-day extension.

'The Transmission Gully Public Private Partnership contract between the NZTA and the Wellington Gateway Partnership stipulates if the agreed and contracted opening date is not met, liquidated damaged will be payable by the contractor to the Transport Agency.'

It was a standard inclusion in all of the agency's construction contracts to cover any costs incurred by a project's overrun, he said.

Although contractors were now hoping for a mid-year opening, a project source said the extension was unlikely to help because of the usual bad weather at that time of year.

'They're putting on a brave face but they're getting increasingly desperate. Everyone is talking about a mid-year open but they'll need a miracle.'

Weather has caused significant delays, NZTA says.

On Friday, the region's mayors met with the agency but Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said there was no hint given of any delay.

'Nothing was said, it was all positive.'

When approached for comment, a spokeswoman for Transport Minister Phil Twyford said the issue was an operational matter.

STATUS UPDATE:

As at June 2019, NZTA said Transmission Gully had:

75 per cent of its motorway construction complete
76 per cent of its structures finished
8 million cubic metres of its earth removed
1.4 million native trees and shrubs planted
10 kilometres of new motorway at pre-pavement level
575 metres of permanent stream diversions left to complete