An academic at the University of Hawaii Manoa is critical about ongoing funding requests to complete Honolulu's rail project with no one held to account for money already spent.
Hawaii Governor David Ige signs the bill into law on how to fund a Honolulu rail shortfall to complete construction. Photo: Supplied
Legislation passed this month allows for regular auditing of future spending as well as a guarantee of another $US2.4 billion from increased tourist and sales taxes.
The cost of the project is now estimated at almost $10 billion.
Panos Prevedouros who teaches civil engineering at the university said many locals were upset that the price tag kept on rising and more due diligence was needed.
"We should have put aside monies which is really trivial given the overall scope and a couple of million dollars at most would have done it for a national forensic expert on transit systems to come and look at what is really happening here and how come our transit system is two to three times more expensive than other comparable US systems," Panos Prevedouros said.