Two months on from its precipitate decision to scrap Interislander ferries and terminal upgrades, the Government has yet to unfurl its Plan B.
But this week we got a chance to see inside the engine room of Plan A during KiwiRail chair David McLean and CEO Peter Reidy’s Cook Strait-crossing-length three-hour appearance before the Transport and Infrastructure select committee.
As becomes professional directors in their relationship with shareholders, the pair emphasised they respected the Government’s decision to scrap the plan, after the estimated cost escalated to almost $3 billion.
Yet it was hard not to come away from the hearing feeling KiwiRail’s disappointment and the sense it still believes the project was unfairly maligned and its decommissioning was ill-advised.
The Interisland Resilient Connection (iRex) project was, they said, all about growth and capacity.
