𝕂𝕚𝕨𝕚ℝ𝕒𝕚𝕝 𝕤𝕝𝕦𝕞𝕡𝕤 𝕥𝕠 $𝟜𝟘𝟟𝕞 𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕤 𝕠𝕟 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕨𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖-𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕤

𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕗𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕒𝕝 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕓𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕘𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕒𝕩 𝕡𝕒𝕪𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕝𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕒𝕤 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕨𝕠 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝔽𝕖𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕝.

K

iwiRail has written off $382 million in costs associated with the cancelled Interislander replacement project and provisioned a further $60m for winding it down, BusinessDesk reports.

The $442m in costs, detailed in the 2024 half-year results released on Thursday, doesn’t include the cost of exiting the shipbuilding contract with South Korean shipyard Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which was contracted to build two new ferries for $551m.

.

.

The coalition Government declined a bid by KiwiRail

last December for nearly $1.5 billion in extra funding for the project, called iReX, which was plagued by cost escalations largely related to the terminals and other landside infrastructure.

"The $442m in costs,.., doesn’t include the cost of exiting the shipbuilding contract ..., which was contracted to build two new ferries for $551m"

The writeoffs are 80% of the price of the ships#NACT1st are financial muppetshttps://t.co/ikaPU56kgN

— Nicholas: a very puzzled inquiring mind having fun (@nicholasphilp) March 2, 2024

According to the half-year results report, KiwiRail was working with the Government on options for exiting the shipbuilding contract, including the potential for the Government to fund costs associated with terminating the deal.

“Potential costs, over and above the provision recognised in the interim financial statements, that may be incurred in reaching a settlement with the counterparty to contracts cannot be estimated with any certainty at present,” the document said.

As well as the Interislander write-down, KiwiRail booked costs of $1.9m associated with severe weather events.

.

.

Combined with $211m in impairments, the rail operator posted a net deficit after-tax result of $407m for the half-year, a 525.2 per cent decline on the $65.1m deficit recorded in the prior comparable period.

Read the full BusinessDesk story here.

.