Winston Peters: Rail minister disputes the final cost of scrapping the mega-ferries project

Rail Minister Winston Peters is disputing the reported final cost of dumping the mega-ferries project which sits at $671million dollars. 

Peters argues the 449-million for infrastructure, project management, and wind-down costs isn't all lost, with elements still being used. 

Settlement for cancelling the contract with a Hyundai shipyard for the two new inter-island ferries cost 144-million-dollars. 

It brings the total paid to the boat builders, to 222 million. 

He says that was actually lower than the 300-million originally provisioned. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We finally learned how much it's cost the country to
break the ferry contract with Hyunda over in South Korea.
It's one hundred and forty four million dollars just in
the break feed. That is on top of the deposit
we've already paid. It's also on top of the cost
of starting the port infrastructure building and then winding it
down again. Canceled project in total has cost tax payers
six hundred and seventy one million dollars. Winston Peters is
the Minister for Rellum with us.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, Winston, well, good morning on good afternoon or good evening,
because those facts you just gave substantially incorrect.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Oh well, please correct.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, I'm correcting you because there's one forty four million.
There were other costs that were already paid. There were
costs that were paid that were to do with associated projects.
Many of those utilities we were able to save. And
so it is massively less than the three hundred million
that are in z reported there I say it or
typically so and the layer place it was going to

(00:53):
be one point one six billion, yea.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Make sure that we've got the facts here, right, Winston.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
So we've got you. I think the facts you was
on the minusutl.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
You did the facts and then you started to do
the other stuff. So, first of all, one hundred and
forty four.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Million dollars to the facts one hundred Humor said of
the fact that I'm breaking you one hundred.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
And forty four million dollars in the break fee plus
the deposit takes the total spin to the shipyard to
two hundred and twenty two million dollars plus. Then you've
got the four hundred and forty nine million dollars on
land side infrastructure, project management and wind down costs. Correct.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
No, not correct, because some of those projects we have saved.
For example, the departure that the building in Maboro is
going to be saved. We're not going to pull it
down like the project at forecast. So they were going
to build a short term departure lounge and pull it down.
We decided to save it. There are counters other parts
like that which dissect out to be savings not expenditure

(01:49):
in the way that the layer part is so massively
misreder So.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
What is the total then, If it's not six hundred
and seventy one million, well.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
It's one hundred and forty four million if you take
the seventy eight that's already paid out. So it was.
It was originally provisioned to cost us three hundred million,
and we've come and way, way, way shorter than that
and saved a lot of them.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Three hundred million dollars is what we were going to spend,
and we spend one hundred and forty four million dollars.
But we still spend one hundred and forty four million
dollars in a break fear, which gets us nothing. So
we've spent two hundred and twenty two million dollars with Hyunda,
And what have we got for it, Winston?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
What we've got here?

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Nothing?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
No, no, no, no, no, I can see why you guys
are in trouble. What we're what they've got from? What
is this? They were told to go out, just go
very slowly with you when I was the minister. They
were told to go and go and buy two fairies
for four hundred and one million dollars. I come back
to find that they've massively blown that out and brought
the message. We all know the sta've got that point,

(02:50):
you've got they don't know the story. They went out
and brought two much bigger faeries, which would require them
to change the whole infrastructu which was in a blow,
as the Treasury said the costs out over four billion dollars,
a bit like what happened in Tasmania right a year
right now. But they've got the faeries and they've got
no infrastruture because they can't fit fit them. So what

(03:12):
they do with the fairies the same predicament we'd have had,
but only we got their ferd.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
I knew that story. That was boring. I already knew
all of that. I just what I'm trying to point
out is that you have spent two hundred because people
canceled it. We've spent two hundred and twenty two million
dollars and we ain't got anything.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Anyway, you should be you should be saying. You should
be out there saying Whenston, thank Heavens, your Scottish nature
came through and you've saved up billions of dollars. And
I have, and very shortly I'll prove it to you.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Okay, Hey, listen, have you agreed to let you agreed
between yourselves a national that we're going to let the
foreign buyers in and it's going to cabinet in a
matter of weeks.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
No, we haven't changed. We're not changing our foreign biers policy.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Well, well, Nichola Willis has told Bloomberg that in a
matter of weeks you're going to cabinet and you're going
to let the people buy the houses.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Now she didn't say that. Oh, she was talking about
a new approach to serious foreign investors.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yes, who will be able to buy houses?

Speaker 2 (04:09):
No? No, no, See what National Party campaigned on you
remember twenty twenty three. They campaigned on a policy which,
when fiscally costed out by guess who yours truly and
later economists blew out massively and we opposed it. But
we said, if you're coming in here to spend billions
and tens of billions of dollars to invest in this
country and you want to buy a house, you're not
a foreign buyer, you're a foreign investor, and we've going

(04:30):
to look at you, at you with new eyes. But
details of WACH are coming out shortly. Okay, brilliant than
I've had a chance to have fancier listeners. The truth
of this matter, Jase.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Honestly, it's tiring. I Winston, thank you, Winston Peters, Minister
of Rail and Leader of New Zealand First. For more
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