Don’t use shonky process at Mt Eden Prison

new-zealand-national-party

Fri Jun 15 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Don’t use shonky process at Mt Eden Prison

Friday, 15 June 2007, 1:01 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Simon Power MP
National Party Justice & Corrections Spokesman

15 June 2007

Corrections Minister Damien O’Connor must assure taxpayers that the "shonky" collaborative working arrangement process won’t be used to redevelop Mt Eden Prison, says National Party Justice & Corrections spokesman Simon Power

“That disastrous process cost taxpayers $490 million in budget overruns in the four-prison regional development project, and resulted in Otago Prison opening late.”

He is commenting on reports that Corrections is to redevelop Mt Eden Prison with two new accommodation blocks housing 450 prisoners.

“Corrections should have learnt big lessons from the regional project.

“We would not have hundreds of prisoners in police cells right now if Otago had been commissioned last year as planned. That delay was thanks to the Government’s insistence on using the CWA process.

“CWAs operate without a fixed price from the beginning, and so expose taxpayers to unnecessary risk.

“Most people get an up-front price when they’re building a new home or business, but that’s not the way CWAs work, and that was not the way Corrections operated on that project.

“The process was fraught with risk, they gambled on an unproven process, and they lost – both money and time.

“The cost of Auckland Women’s Prison blew out from $58.4 million to $158 million, Otago from $79 million to $218 million, and Springhill from $114 million to $380 million – because they didn’t have a clue what was going on.

“The Government’s use of CWAs was a disaster and must not happen again.”

ENDS

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