SkyCity Entertainment Group expects further delays at its "challenging" New Zealand International Convention Centre project in Auckland but still has no date for its opening.
The casino operator says the centre and Horizon Hotel, originally budgeted at $703 million and expected to be completed in February 2019, will now be completed "beyond December 2019".
The company didn't provide a new timeline and says it will provide further updates once it has greater certainty about completion dates. Fletcher Building, which is managing the project, earlier this year wrote $486 million off the value of a string of developments, including the conference centre. As well as rapidly escalating costs, former chair Ralph Norris particularly cited contract terms for the conference centre, which allowed too much flexibility for variations to be undertaken at Fletcher's cost.
Fletcher won the right to build the convention centre after a deal struck between SkyCity and the previous government, which critics said lacked a competitive tender.
SkyCity said it remains comfortable with the existing contractual arrangements and any additional costs due to delays are expected to be covered by liquidated damages.
