Project cost overruns
exceed modest goalsThe issue: Construction changes
are projected to increase the cost
of the Hanauma Bay visitors
complex by 20 percent.WHEN Ben Lee, the city's managing director, told the Star-Bulletin early last week that he did not believe the cost of building a visitors complex above Hanauma Bay would exceed the budget, we thought he was referring to the project's $10.6 million price tag. Wrong. He instead meant the $13 million budgeted by the City Council five years ago for a more ambitious project that later was scaled back because of community opposition.
With use-it-or-lose-it abandon, the city appears to have authorized changes in the lesser design that extend far beyond the expectations of Council members and the public. The cost is now estimated at $12.7 million. Lee's stoic explanation that the money will come from tourist fees and not tax dollars is unacceptable.
The complex, built with fake rock, will include a snack bar, restrooms, offices and a new interpretive center aimed an enlightening tourists about the fragility of the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. Original plans also called for moving all parking farther away from the bay and installing a cable-car line to the top of Koko Head, but community opposition prompted Harris to drop those plans, lowering the projected cost to $10.6 million.
Harris also agreed to community demands that the structures not be visible from the beach, but architects realized last May that the plans would not achieve that objective. At an extra cost of $80,000, builders agreed to lower the center's roof by five feet.
Although the blunder -- Harris insisted that it was "not an error at all" -- was inexcusable, that was a piddling amount compared with the add-ons since then. The changes, including more gravel and steel, better railings, a stone walkway, underground electrical lines and an assortment of other revisions, come to $2.1 million.
The City Council was kept in the dark about the cost increases until recently. As of last Thursday, Councilman John Henry Felix said Lee had shown him information about five changes amounting to only one-third of the extra costs, although Lee told the Star-Bulletin's Gordon Pang that there were nine changes totaling $1.3 million. Pang later found five other changes bringing the total cost overrun to $2.1 million.
"To say it's still under budget is shibai," says Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, a former Council member who has been critical of the Harris administration's change-order practices. The $10.6 million estimate "is what the contact should be. The rest of the money is supposed to go back to the general fund. They're not supposed to be using it."
Lee says Oahu residents need to be reminded that the project ultimately will be paid by $3 admission fees charged to non-Hawaii residents. The fee is being challenged by a class-action lawsuit in federal court alleging discrimination against nonresidents. Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, the source of funding provides no justification for reckless spending.
Security, efficiency
needed in air travelThe issue: The government is diverting
money from programs aimed at improving
aviation efficiency to security measures.SECURITY precautions needed because of the terrorist threat are the reason given for delays in air travel. However, as those measures are absorbed into the system, security will be only an indirect cause -- diversion of Federal Aviation Administration funds from programs that were intended before Sept. 11 to reduce delays. Funding for those programs should be restored to provide efficiency as well as security to the country's aviation industry.
The money devoted to security is well spent. In November and December, 30 airport terminals were evacuated because of security precautions, resulting in 1,180 flight delays, 464 cancellations and 15 diversions. On 434 occasions, passengers were ordered off the plane for rescreening. Performance of those precautions desperately needs improvement. However, the financial commitment to providing adequate security should not be made at the expense of efficiency in other areas.
The most ambitious program affected by the diversion of funds is called the Computer-Pilot Data Link Communications, a communication system resembling e-mail. The program was supposed to relieve radio congestion by allowing controllers to more promptly communicate with airplanes waiting to take off.
A 16-plane test of Data Link will begin on schedule in June at the Miami Traffic Control Center, but the system's extension to the 19 other regional air traffic control centers, which had been planned for the end of next year, has been delayed an additional two years.
Data Link costs $10,000 to $25,000 for each plane to be equipped. The FAA is trying to defer those expenses by spending more on security, says Jane F. Garvey, the agency's administrator.
Air travel is down about 15 percent from a year ago because of the recession and fear of terrorism and now is at about the level it was two years ago, when the air-traffic control system was described as being in crisis. However, the pre-Sept. 11 level is expected to return within two years, and the system will be in worse shape.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comRichard Halloran, editorial page director, 529-4790; rhalloran@starbulletin.com
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