National campaigned on constructing a second Mt Victoria Tunnel. Photo: CC BY 2.0
Over three months, the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi spent seven times more on consultants than its own staff working on the same two projects.
One of the key transport promises the National Party made during the 2023 election was to start constructing a second Mt Victoria Tunnel by the end of its first term.
After the $7.4 billion Let's Get Wellington Moving transport plan was cut, NZTA took over planning for the tunnel as well as the Basin Reserve upgrade project and the "long tunnel" idea - twin two-lane 4km tunnels that would run from north of the Terrace to near the suburb of Kilbirnie.
Official Information Act documents released to RNZ show from 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2024, nearly $1.3 million was spent on consultants to investigate the projects.
Comparatively, NZTA staff costs were $175,042, with the price for contractors being $147,007 over the same period.
In a statement provided to RNZ, Transport Minister Simeon Brown did not address questions over whether he was comfortable with the amount of money the government had spent on consultants in three months.
Instead, Brown said the National Party had campaigned on building a second Mt Victoria Tunnel and that the government was determined to deliver on that commitment.
"Earlier this year I announced that NZTA would be working to bring the long tunnel proposal up to the same standard as the parallel Mt Victoria tunnel option. This would allow the government to make an informed decision about the most appropriate solution for Wellington."
In the newly released documents, Brown said he expected to receive further advice from Waka Kotahi on the technical feasibility, benefits, impacts, and costs for all tunnel options in the second half of this year.
According to models he had seen, the long tunnel would save up to 15 minutes in travel time, whereas the second Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve upgrade would only save two to three minutes.