Let’s Get Wellington Moving: How much has been spent on the doomed transport plan

The capital’s beleaguered Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) transport plan spent an average of almost $100,000 a week on consultants in the lead-up to the election.

About $82.7 million was spent on consultants over the life of the now-doomed plan that included a second Mt Victoria tunnel and mass rapid transit from the city to the southern suburbs.

Information released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act shows LGWM spent $393,488 on consultants during September.

As of October this year, $159.1 million had been spent on LGWM in total.

Some of the spending on consultants will be money down the drain after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced this afternoon the new Government will withdraw from LGWM within its first 100 days.

On the campaign trail, the National Party promised to kill LGWM, including light rail, and build a second Mt Victoria tunnel with four lanes for general traffic as a fully funded State Highway project instead.

Now Transport Minister Simeon Brown said in Opposition the previous Government had been getting Wellington consulting and not getting it moving.

He claimed consultants were getting rich with endless talk fests and working groups.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has said he has little confidence in Let's Get Wellington Moving and his Government has promised to withdraw from it. Photo / Alex Cairns

LGWM is a three-way partnership between Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency, Wellington City Council, and Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Central government was going to pay for 60 per cent of the $7.4 billion cost and local government was going to be on the hook for 40 per cent of it.

LGWM has 40 permanent and fixed-term full-time equivalent employees whose combined salaries total $6.7m annually.

Programme director Sarah Gardner said LGWM is a large and complex project.

“The programme requires extensive skills and experience in a number of technical disciplines including transport planning, design and delivery, programme management, governance, risk and assurance, consenting, finance, urban development, communications and engagement.”

LGWM has occupied office space at the Majestic Centre on Willis St in Wellington since May 2023. In the past financial year, $296,909 was spent on rent.

What was delivered for the money already spent?

LGWM has lowered speed limits in the central city and on State Highway 1 east of Mt Victoria to make streets safer. It has built a new pedestrian crossing on Cobham Drive.

There have been improvements for pedestrians at intersections on Stout Street, Vivian Street and the Waterfront Quays. On-street parking on Thorndon Quay has been changed from angled to parallel parking for safety reasons.

Construction has been started on a new roundabout on Aotea Quay to improve access to the port and ferry terminal from the motorway, but the project has not been finished.

On-street parking on Thorndon Quay has been changed from angled to parallel for safety reasons. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Construction has not started on a plan to remove private vehicles along the Golden Mile - from Lambton Quay to Courtenay Place.

The full contract for the work was not able to be signed before the new Government formed, although funding had been agreed to.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said the city council will need to work through what the incoming Government’s direction to stop work on LGWM means for the Golden Mile.

”It is my intention to meet with the new Transport Minister as soon as possible to discuss the Golden Mile and other key projects. I will be making the case that we continue to progress many of these projects that are supported by a majority of Wellingtonians. But I am open to different ways of working together and getting things done.”

LGWM has also been developing bus priority as well as cycling and walking improvements on key routes between suburban centres and the central city.

The bigger projects in LGWM never eventuated.

Partners agreed on a preferred programme of work that included mass rapid transit from the railway station to Island Bay, bus priority to Miramar and the airport, and improvements at the Basin Reserve. Engineering, technical planning, and initial design work were carried out ahead of the business case being finalised next year.

There was also technical consensus on a potential solution to separate traffic at the Basin Reserve and a comprehensive model of underground utilities was developed.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.