Covid 19 coronavirus: City Rail Link worksites to reopen under alert level 3

A desolate City Rail Link worksite empty of workers on day 27 of the Covid-19 lockdown. Photo / Michael Craig

Work on New Zealand's largest infrastructure project - the City Rail Link in Auckland - is set to kickstart back into life when the country enters alert level 3.

Two hundred workers will re-enter CRL worksites next Tuesday after the nation's hardline alert level 4 Covid-19 lockdown brought all work on the $4.419 billion project to a grinding halt.

A desolate City Rail Link worksite empty of workers on day 27 of the Covid-19 lockdown. Photo / Michael Craig

The CRL aims to double the passenger capacity of trains in Auckland's inner city by building 3.4km of underground railway along with new and improved stations.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Government was keen to crack on with the project in order to "support jobs".

"Two hundred workers will resume construction works on Tuesday at CRL sites at Britomart, lower Queen St, Albert St, Aotea, Karangahape Rd, Mount Eden and on the southern line at Otahuhu," she said.

"And this will ramp up to the pre-pandemic workforce which was 400 followers over the week that then follows."

It comes as many inner city businesses located near the project now face a double whammy.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

They have earlier complained that the delayed project interfered with business incomes by blocking or shielding access to their shops and reducing nearby foot traffic.

Now the same businesses face the prospect of also weathering a global recession that the International Monetary Fund has tipped could be the worst since the Great Depression.