Veteran councillor Assid Corban queries rail costings

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Veteran Waitakere City councillor Assid Corban yesterday urged his council to delay signing up for a regional rail company until it had better information on future costs likely to be faced by ratepayers.

But his appeal was drowned out at a special council meeting by councillor Carolyn Stone's assurances that buying commuter rail access from Tranz Rail for $65 million was "the best deal in town."

A member of the local bodies' working party for the deal, she said work was still was being done on the cost figures, but members were comfortable with the progress being made.

The Tranz Rail deal needs to be settled by December 8. Waitakere is one of four councils that are being asked to approve the formation of a company that will hold the proposed rail lease.



Mr Corban said he was worried about continually rising costs when he had been told that Waitakere's share of the company's running expenses would be between $53,880 and $134,700 for each of the next two years.

"No one is looking at the bigger picture of what the total public transport bill will be. We don't know and we could be committing ourselves to something we can't afford."

The council voted to accept the need to begin recruiting directors for the company, and to provide working capital for it while future financial issues were resolved.

An officials' report says the company could need $1 million dollars a year from the region until 2003, when it expects income from commuter rail contracts.

The Mayor of Waitakere Bob Harvey, who as chairman of the mayoral forum has pushed for the Tranz Rail deal, was absent from the meeting as he was at the Business to Government forum.

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