'Bite the bullet' - Christchurch residents split over stadium $150m budget blowout

Christchurch locals have a tough decision on their hands about a $150 million budget blowout to the city's long-awaited stadium.

The Christchurch City Council announced today the final estimation for Te Kaha was $683m and had a further delayed finish date of April 2026.

Now, the public will be given three options to choose from: Increase the budget, scale back the project, or halt work altogether.

Te Kaha Project Delivery chair Barry Bragg said the latest escalation of costs came as a shock.

"The news is not good. Our assessment of the final bid proposal that we have received indicates a budget increase of up to $150m," Bragg said.

The due date for the bid was 16 May, but lead contractor BESIX Watpac delayed it by two weeks.

Bragg said he expected an increase of $75m, but was shocked to see double that.

"We started to get nervous about what the numbers were going to look like, but it's fair to say we've gone from a price rise to a price shock."

Council chief executive Dawn Baxendale agreed.

"You won't get a stronger feeling, we are really really disappointed to see the numbers that we're seeing."

The council blame the rising costs on an overheated construction market, as well as the war in Ukraine and China's Covid-19 shutdown.

$40m has already been spent on the project, and early work is underway, with construction set to begin in a few weeks.

With consultation likely to begin next Friday, Christchurch locals had mixed opinions about the next steps for Te Kaha.

Beth Owens lived a block from the work site, and just wanted to see it done after years of delay.

"It's go big or go home to be honest, because like, if you're going to through the effort, why do reduced seating numbers that aren't going to pull in All Blacks games and all that sort of stuff, 'cause surely that's the whole point."

Her partner Justin Rypma agreed - he thought the council should bite the bullet.

"It could up being even more expensive down the road, you don't know with material shortages if it's just going to become more expensive in another five years."

Logan Sanko thought the project should be scrapped altogether, and the money used for housing and other infrastructure.

"$700m could be spent much better than in a stadium, there's a lot of different infrastructure needs that could be spent on, and probably have better impacts on the average person as opposed to a stadium.

"Housing would be a good start probably."

Council staff said if the budget increase was approved, a significant increase in rates could be needed to bridge the cost gap.

Councillor Sam MacDonald said the price hike was not ideal, but thought it would be more catastrophic to pause the project now.

"Ultimately this comes back to the fact that this stadium should have already been built.

"It was bumped down the road in 2013, and now the council are playing catch up, and unfortunately the rate payers are looking at wearing the bill for a council that didn't deliver this when it should have."

Residents will be able to formally voice their opinions after councillors vote to consult next Thursday - a legal requirement for a cost this large.

"It's not just about rugby" - Crusaders CEO

Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge told Checkpoint the budget blowout was disappointing but the issue was about more than just rugby.

"It's pretty disappointing, it's Groundhog Day again," he said. "I'm not sure it's anyone's fault but it feels like we're doing it over and over again that's for sure."

As one of New Zealand's largest cities, the question was whether Christchurch could afford not to have it, he said.

"You almost have to ask the question, can we not afford to be a complete city and not have a multi-use arena here?

"We've just been to Melbourne recently... you go there and it feels like a very whole, complete city. Even Auckland it's got everything it needs, we've got a big hole in the ground and it's right beside the central city and every time you walk past you just feel it's incomplete," Mansbridge said.

The city could not afford to continue missing out on major entertainment events and concerts, with promoters opting for more cities with more attractive venues such as Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium, he said.

"New Zealand Rugby brings a test here every now and then and if we have a venue they will bring tests here and they're great for the city... [but] it's not just about rugby there's plenty of opportunity for this city to start to fill up with some of those events we haven't seen for nearly a decade now."

The city needed the stadium, Mansbridge said, but acknowledged the frustration of more hurdles in the construction process.