New HART Report Floats Some Cheerier Budget Possibilities … Report by a committee of HART board members claims there may be hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue or cost savings to be had.
The Honolulu rail authority board presented a package of proposals Wednesday it hopes will help whittle down the city rail project’s enormous budget shortfall based on the work of a subcommittee that identified hundreds of millions of dollars in potential cost savings or new revenue for the project.
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation announced in March the 21-mile rail line faced a funding gap of about $3.5 billion, but HART Interim Director Lori Kahikina told the Honolulu City Council last week the budget shortfall is actually slightly less than $2 billion.
HART based that newer shortfall estimate mostly on a draft report by consultant Triunity Management and Engineering Inc. City officials say Triunity concluded HART can cut its consulting and other costs by $749 million, but HART thus far has refused to make that draft document public.
