External consultants called in to review Let's Get Wellington Moving programme, including its 'people and culture'
Friday, 18 September 2020
The $6.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) programme is under review, despite $4 million a month being leaked into the project.
Multiple sources told Stuff the monthly cost was revealed to Wellington City councillors by a staff member in recent days, with one source also revealing the 20-year project was set to be reviewed.
LGWM refused to comment on the monthly costs, but confirmed in a statement that three independent consultants had been brought in to review the programme.
The review would focus on several areas, including governance, people and culture, potential gaps, and whether the programme was achievable and could deliver on its objectives.
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“The Let’s Get Wellington Moving Programme is undertaking an internal review to ensure it is best placed to successfully deliver its $6.4b investment package to the city over the next 20 years,” a statement attributed to programme director Andrew Body said.
A draft report on the findings would be presented to the LGWM partnership board in October, with a final report due the following month.
It’s understood the meeting in which the costs were revealed was held following concerns among some city councillors about how the programme was tracking.
One source said many councillors were shocked by the amount of money being leaked into the project, considering there was “nothing that’s been achieved” so far.
The money was being spent on things such as consultancy firms, business case work, and public engagement.
Some consultants had been brought in from outside of Wellington, they said.
Another source said there were concerns among councillors about the decision-making split among the three LGWM partners – the city council, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and the New Zealand Transport Agency – and the way public consultation was being managed.
It follows criticism from businesses about not being consulted on plans to revamp the city’s Golden Mile, and a recent public meeting in which Body directed a personal insult at one of those businesswomen.
The Golden Mile project was meant to be one of the “quick wins” of the wide-ranging transport and city-shaping programme, but is now facing opposition from hundreds of affected businesses.
The LGWM joint venture was set up in late 2015 following the failed Basin Reserve flyover proposal.
Progress on the programme has moved at a snail’s pace over the past five years, with the grand plan finally revealed in May last year, but each of the projects still subject to public feedback and business case approval.
Sources who were at the meeting said councillors were also told indicative business cases for an extra Mt Victoria tunnel and mass rapid transit system were behind schedule, but LGWM said in a statement they were on track for early 2021.
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster refused to comment on the development and directed questions to LGWM.
Foster has previously spoken out against the project’s timeline, and wants an extra Mt Victoria tunnel built before a proposed mass transit system between Wellington Railway Station and the airport.
Construction of the mass transit system between the railway station and Newtown is scheduled to begin by 2024, with an extension to the airport to begin by 2029.
The extra Mt Victoria tunnel and improvements to the Basin Reserve roundabout – reportedly a tunnel under Sussex St – are not due to be completed until after 2029.