A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Re: Costs that deliver value, December 21 letter by Niall Robertson, national coordinator for The Rail Advocacy Collective.
Niall, all you are doing with your campaign — like Gillian Ward and the Gisborne Rail Action Group — is costing the tax and ratepayers of this country millions of dollars. Icall it feeding engineers and consultants, etc, for a lost cause that is impossible to rebuild.
I also put it to you that you misled the ratepayers, GDC and our Government Ministers. Look at the $60,000 that the CEOs of GDC and HBRC flushed away on engineers’ reports that went to key Government Ministers. That was for reports on the huge Whareongaonga dropout into the sea. Why flush this amount of ratepayers’ funds down the dunny? I just can’t believe it. The power of you people to force action when all it needs is common sense.
Niall, in your letter you have said you have been to Gizzy and seen the damage. I am calling your bluff. Come back to the editor and explain to us how much damage you have seen. How many kilometres of the line from Gizzy to Nuhaka have you physically travelled? The only section of line I have not travelled on is from the Gizzy side of the Tikiwhata Tunnel to the Whareongaonga dropout into the sea.
Niall, are you accusing me of causing a disservice to the community? My disservice hasn’t cost the ratepayers or the taxpayers millions of dollars that has gone down the plughole.
$36 million the rail link could be open in 18 months. Why didn’t they take on the job themselves and get it done?
Niall, you use the words “relatively cheap” — well, tell us, since you have been to Gizzy and seen the damage, seen engineers, talked with GDC, and spoke with Government Ministers. How many millions of dollars to rebuild most of the line from Gizzy to Wairoa? My guess is no change from
