Drain on bus hub budget

The latest work on Dunedin's new bus hub involves deep excavations on Great King St to flatten the road, as well as the removal of temporary drainage channels installed only weeks ago. Photo: Christine O'Connor
The latest work on Dunedin's new bus hub involves deep excavations on Great King St to flatten the road, as well as the removal of temporary drainage channels installed only weeks ago. Photo: Christine O'Connor
The removal of temporary drainage channels - installed only weeks ago - is expected to add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of Dunedin's new bus hub.

Fulton Hogan contractors building the bus hub in Great King St have begun excavating deep into the existing carriageway - and removing new drainage channels in the process - as work on the project continues.

Otago Regional Council support services manager Gerard Collings said the reconstruction of the existing carriageway - including excavating the existing road down to the clay layer beneath - was always planned as part of the project.

The entire road level was being lowered to make it more efficient for buses, which would not have to ''kneel'' every time they entered the hub, he said.

''The road design itself has been specifically designed to accommodate the more consistent use of heavy traffic,'' he said.

However, the installation - and then removal - of temporary drainage channels was a more recent addition to the project, and would add to the overall cost, Mr Collings confirmed.

The bus hub had faced several delays since its inception, most recently when the ORC announced it would pause construction over the busy Christmas shopping period, pushing the completion date out to the end of next month.

Mr Collings said yesterday that decision meant temporary drainage had to be installed, to avoid the flooding of nearby businesses if it rained over the holiday period.

The temporary drainage was being removed again now, but the extra work added to the cost.

The exact figures were still being finalised, but it was likely to add a ''couple of hundred thousand dollars'' to the project's $4.4million cost, he said.

Asked if the bus hub otherwise remained on track for completion next month, Mr Collings said: ''We've got no reason to believe it's not.

''We're meeting with the contractors on a weekly basis. They're only a week and a-half in [since the resumption of work] but there's been nothing that's been raised with us at this point that would suggest we're not going to meet the last week in February.''

chris.morris@odt.co.nz

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