The Premium Debate

I used to work in this sort of project in the UK. The companies or agencies doing such work are obligated to pay business loss compensation based on accounts before the work started. Shame NZ law doesn’t require the same level of respect and proper procedure. Marcus A.

What a disgrace. These businesses will be the life blood of this area once the work is finished yet this light rail project has strangled them. Why was funding not provided for all affected businesses similar to the Covid response? Rachel H.

Calculate the loss by taking an average of the last 3 years before the project started and pay them. I would be happier my tax dollars went there than on a cycle way over the bridge. Mehernosh K.

It’s terrible to see this archetypal Italian family restaurant close down. I recall Antony’s father running the Da Vinci way in the early 80s at the top of Queen St. We have also seen the Mai Thai restaurant in the same vicinity close down after over 30 years for the same reason. The tragedy is there is no point in these businesses commencing a class action against the bureaucracy given their bottomless pit of cash to defend the case. The arrogance of the ‘suits’ in not offering compensation appals me. Gary W.

Why is it taking so long to build this — it’s only 3.5km long. Other countries can build subway and other mass transit systems of far greater scale, complexity and length and in a much shorter time. London is building an entire new subway line, the Elizabeth Line, in about 12 years and it’s 21km long. The CRL has already been going for 5 to 6 years. David N.