Progressive Coalition MP Matt Robson will today invoice Sir Michael Fay for $100 million for rail maintenance.
Sir Michael's firm, Fay Richwhite, was the Government's adviser on New Zealand Rail from 1990 to 1993. It bought about a third of the shares when the Government sold the state-owned enterprise for $328m.
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Rail then became a publicly listed company, Tranz Rail, which pays the Government $1 a year to lease the land under the tracks.
"From 1993 on the value of our rail network has been stripped and maintenance neglected so that today we have a service which is run down," Mr Robson said in a statement.
"The dogma of the 1980s and 1990s which led to the sale of strategic assets cost the country dearly but enriched a small elite."
Sir Michael, a merchant banker who now lives in Switzerland, is in New Zealand for the America's Cup yachting regatta and Mr Robson planned to deliver his invoice to the Louis Vuitton media centre in Auckland to be passed on to him.
"Michael Fay may have been welcomed into the America's Cup hall of fame but I think his correct place may be more in 'infamy' when it comes to NZ Rail, considering the rail problems Wellington commuters have been suffering of late."
Summer heat has wreaked havoc with railway lines around Wellington, with trains having to reduce speed because of buckling tracks.
It has been reported the Government is in secret negotiations to buy back the national rail network for between $120 million and $130m.
Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday said cabinet had had a "general discussion" about Tranz Rail but she was not in a position to take the public debate any further.
"Obviously, the Government has been talking to Tranz Rail about a lot of things for quite a long time," she said.
"Of course we want, as the public wants, to have a viable and healthy rail service. There are a range of ways of achieving that.
"There are obviously risks around any speculation, even what the Government's options are. It's not my intention to run those risks."
- NZPA
