40499 (2025). Tangi Utikere to the Minister for Rail

40499 (2025). Tangi Utikere to the Minister for Rail: What steps, if any, did he and/or the Finance Minister take to verify any projected costs of cancellation of the iReX project, as provided by officials?

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Cabinet was appraised of the serious mismanagement of Project iReX in December 2023. The paper reflected actual cost estimates supplied by KiwiRail, the party responsible, who had in turn verified their own cost estimates to a high degree. The issue with the project was not the veracity of the estimates, it was the profligate approach to scoping the infrastructure work which led to excessive, wasteful spending. The relevant Cabinet paper has been released and can be found here: https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2024-05/project-irex-4914547.pdf.