Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The cancellation cost for the Wellington to Picton ferry replacement project could cost a further half a billion dollars, according to the Maritime Union.
On Tuesday, the union said the cost of cancelling the two large ferries that had been contracted for the iReX project would likely be more than $300 million, and could be up to about $500m.
That figure does not include the additional remaining costs of paying for new ferries or upgrading the port infrastructure.
Maritime Union national secretary Carl Findlay said it reached the estimated price tag after consulting with the industry in New Zealand and off-shore.
He said that figure would be on top of the $500m already spent on sunk costs.
"What we're saying is [the full cost] is close to a billion dollars all up, and there needs to be accountability for this outrageous, blowing up of all this money," Findlay said.
"This is taxpayer's money."
The iReX Project was initially estimated to cost $775m when KiwiRail submitted its business case in 2018.
That price tag had blown out to $2.6 billion by February 2023, mostly due to the costs of updating the port infrastructure. The two new Korean ferries themselves cost almost $600m.
Findlay said the government should have taken time to try to come up with an innovative solution before going ahead with the cancellation..
"We just needed to work through the process. The government should have still carried on and purchased those ferries.
"They would've been better off working on the original plan than putting us in this billion dollar hole of taxpayer's money that they just seem to have thrown into the bonfire."
He said New Zealanders deserve accountability.
"[The Finance Minister] needs to explain exactly what her thought process was there and how she came to that [decision].
"Someone needs to be accountable. If she doesn't fall on her sword, then all of her advisers should fall on the sword."
But Nicola Willis has responded and said she made the right call.
"We are confident our ultimate solution, even accounting for sunk costs of the failed Project iReX, will come at less cost to the taxpayer than the at least $3b price tag for Project iReX," Willis said.
"This was a project mired with cost blow-outs, delays, and significant practical problems. It was the right decision to stop it."
Willis said the government will continue to work with KiwiRail to find a more cost-effective solution.
"We are working at pace on options to improve the resilience of the Cook Strait connection.
"Announcements will be made as soon as it is appropriate to do so."