The government's Cook Strait ferry project will cost less than $2 billion, says the Rail Minister.
Winston Peters announced in March the government would buy two new Interislander ferries to replace the current ageing fleet.
The new ships, which are 200 metres long and 28 metres wide, have 11 decks. Photo: Supplied/ Ferry Holdings
The new ferries are expected to come into service in 2029.
It was revealed today the total budget for the project was currently estimated to be $1.86 billion - with taxpayers paying less than $1.7 billion of that.
Briefing documents said the cost would not surpass $2 billion.
Plans for the berths in Wellington and Picton for the new Cook Strait ferries. Photo: Supplied/Ferry Holdings
Peters said the contract for the ferries were a fixed price $596 million between Ferry Holdings and shipbuilder Guangzhou Shipyard International.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis pulled the plug on iReX, the previous government's Cook Strait mega ferry plan, in 2023.
Peters said the public had benefited as a result of the new plan.
"Spending less than $1.7 billion means the taxpayer has saved $2.3 billion while still getting the ferries and infrastructure they want, because we have done away with the expensive consultants who hijacked the project by adding more and more infrastructure until Treasury warned the project would cost $4 billion."
Winston Peters at today's announcement. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
He said funding spent on infrastructure would be recovered over the life of the new Interislander ferries and infrastructure, through port fees paid from Interislander revenue.
Interislander would also be expected to build sufficient money reserves to buy new ferries again in 30 years, Peters said.
The new ships would be 200 metres long and rail-enabled, which meant rail freight could be rolled on and off them.
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