Auckland City Rail Link: Heart of the City attacks 'disrespectful' compensation delay

Tuesday, 10 September 2019

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

Albert St businesses struggling to make a living alongside drawn-out City Rail Link works have been waiting nearly two months for a Government decision on compensation.

Heart of the City has attacked the delay as 'incredibly disappointing' and 'disrespectful' to business owners, who say disruptions caused by delayed CRL works are to blame for their plummeting earnings.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff initially spoke out against compensation for the businesses, but later changed tack, proposing the hardship fund in a letter to Transport Minister Phil Twyford.

Transport Minister Phil Twyford, left, is yet to decide whether Albert St businesses will be compensated for losses they blame on delayed CRL works. Mayor Phil Goff, right, floated the proposal with his ex-Labour Party colleague on July 19.

In a statement, Goff's office said the proposal was still with the Government.

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The owners, led by Shakespeare Hotel proprietor Sunny Kaushal, have been waiting for a decision since July 19, when Goff wrote to Twyford.

On Tuesday, Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck said she believed the compensation proposal was still being considered in Wellington, but she had not heard anything more.

Last month, Kaushal told Stuff his account with Progressive had been axed, with the Shakespeare Hotel's brewery arm unable to keep producing beer to stock in supermarkets.

'Every day is very hard day,' he said.

Rakuten Japanese Cuisine owner Kingna Yu tried and failed to sell her business, just off Albert St, after a breast cancer diagnosis.

'Every moment is a ticking time bomb.'

Just down the road, Roma Blooms owners Shobhana Ranchhodji and Jugdish Naran were also struggling, recently telling Stuff their business faced an uncertain future.

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

Beck attacked the Government's lack of communication since July 19.

'I think it's incredibly disappointing and incredibly disrespectful to people that are having a hard time,' she said.

'This has been going on for months.'

Beck said Twyford's office had released a letter saying it was open to advice. She responded, but it had been radio silence since.

In the meantime, businesses did not know what the future held and continued to face 'challenging times', Beck said.

'The longer this goes on the worse it is for these people.'

Kaushal last month told Stuff Albert St business owners had hoped for a decision on compensation by the end of July.

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.

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