Queenstown ratepayers will pick up the bill for another $18M budget blow out on Queenstown’s downtown bypass, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has confirmed.

Councillors approved the overspend last week (Thursday February 15), which brings the total cost of the 'shovel-ready' project to $128M, rather than opting to leave the road partially finished.

At last week’s full council meeting, deputy mayor Quentin Smith asked council staff to confirm that the cost of the project would be borne by ratepayers on the other side of the hill.

Quentin said it was “good to clarify” that that was the case, as there was a misconception in the Upper Clutha that ratepayers there may be paying for it.

It was only last year that councillors approved a $21M increase in the budget for the 'arterial' road, which will connect Frankton Road to Gorge Rd, via Melbourne Street and Henry St.

There's no guarantee this will be the last time the Kā Huanui a Tāhuna (Whakatipu Transport Programme Alliance) board, overseeing the project, comes to council with its hand out.

"It's a really terrible position to be put in again," Cr Esther Whitehead said at the meeting.

"I feel that as a council we have all of the accountability and virtually none of the control, and it shouldn't be that way."

Central government will fund $50M of the total cost, as the project was announced by the Labour government as part of the 2020 pandemic response. QLDC was originally slated to pay $35M but has seen its costs more than double.

Several councillors said it was clear the previous council had rushed into the project.

"In hindsight, it wasn't really shovel ready," Cr Lyal Cocks said, "it's questionable whether the shovel had even been designed."

Lyal said the government money was a "big carrot" but with what they know now, they should have asked for $100M, rather than $50M.

"The reports are pretty sobering ... they don't reflect well on a lot of the professionals involved, a lot of the board members, the elected members."

But not finishing the project would "dig a bigger hole" for the council and the next council, he said, and nothing would be achieved by delaying it. 

"We need to get on and get this darn project finished."

Councillors considered a full report from the Alliance, detailing the reasons for the overspend, including escalating costs affecting the industry, complex construction issues, and traffic management.

The construction work is only 54 percent complete, but Alliance project manager Edward Husband told councillors it's unlikely there will be another blow out, as most of the difficult below-ground work is nearing completion.

Council finance boss Stewart Burns said the council will need to borrow to fund the project, so most of the costs relate to debt-servicing over the period of the loan. Overall the impact on rates is expected to one percent, all from Whakatipu ratepayers, with 54 percent collected from accommodation and commercial properties.

PHOTO: Supplied