Payouts top $1m as pin pulled on project
It was meant to be a programme to get Wellington moving, but redundancy payments to stop Let’s Get Wellington Moving are topping $1 million.
Waka Kotahi NZTA refused to say how many Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) staff had been made redundant but, in a September 2023 Official Information Act response, LGWM said it had 38 permanent and fixed-term staff.
Waka Kotahi system design national manager Robyn Elston said 12 LGWM staff were redeployed to the Wellington City Council and the transport agency.
That leaves about 26 who shared in a total redundancy pool of $1,047,044.
It averages out to a payment of $40,270 per person.
But those workers are entering a highly competitive Wellington job market as the Government’s public service cuts get rolled out.
Late-March saw the ministries of Health and Primary Industries propose 550 job cuts between them in a single day while the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) is calling for voluntary redundancies and is disestablishing vacant positions.
The $7.4 billion LGWM was to be a huge overhaul of the way Wellington moved – ranging from light rail to a second Mt Victoria tunnel to cycleways and pedestrianisation of much of the Golden Mile.
But, after multiple cost blowouts and with little physical work done, the new Government pulled the pin on it, with the Wellington City Council going it alone on the Golden Mile changes and Waka Kotahi doing the second Mount Victoria tunnel.
Elston said LGWM this week still had three staff “working on the final wind down processes”.
It no longer had any consultants or contractors.
Waka Kotahi previously released figures showing that, by January 31, LGWM had spent $109.2m on consultants.