02-03-2015, 03:17 AM
How much is the railroad on Oahu going to cost once completed, and how much to maintain?
This one deserves its own thread, along with the question "how do we get one".
It was supposed to cost about $5B, with Hawaii's share paid by the extra half-cent GET that currently applies only to Oahu. With the "massive overruns" (read: lawsuits + the costs going up while everything waits for said lawsuits) there is some "need" to extend that extra half-cent beyond its current sunset date in 2022.
I assume that some operating cost predictions exist; I further assume that these are inaccurate, even if this is merely "out-of-date".
Rail has a heritage that is very similar to the vast "private" subdivisions in Puna: both were created as a giant tax-mining operation, not intended for practical use -- if the rail project were "useful", it would go to Waikiki, and the airport, and it would pass through the dense student housing. Instead, it runs through vast State-owned "agricultural" lands, in hopes that these can be developed around the shiny new rail system.
This last part is patently offensive: reliance on imported food is a huge problem, so let's turn the farmlands into condos, then import more energy to run the rail system... of course, the rail will be "green" because it uses Maui wind farms and Big Island geothermal connected to Oahu with a massive undersea interisland electric grid that costs 3-5x the original $5B rail budget -- maintenance costs are even less clear for that part, not to mention who will pay for the construction.
Meanwhile, the Big Island can't find a few $M for decent roads...
This one deserves its own thread, along with the question "how do we get one".
It was supposed to cost about $5B, with Hawaii's share paid by the extra half-cent GET that currently applies only to Oahu. With the "massive overruns" (read: lawsuits + the costs going up while everything waits for said lawsuits) there is some "need" to extend that extra half-cent beyond its current sunset date in 2022.
I assume that some operating cost predictions exist; I further assume that these are inaccurate, even if this is merely "out-of-date".
Rail has a heritage that is very similar to the vast "private" subdivisions in Puna: both were created as a giant tax-mining operation, not intended for practical use -- if the rail project were "useful", it would go to Waikiki, and the airport, and it would pass through the dense student housing. Instead, it runs through vast State-owned "agricultural" lands, in hopes that these can be developed around the shiny new rail system.
This last part is patently offensive: reliance on imported food is a huge problem, so let's turn the farmlands into condos, then import more energy to run the rail system... of course, the rail will be "green" because it uses Maui wind farms and Big Island geothermal connected to Oahu with a massive undersea interisland electric grid that costs 3-5x the original $5B rail budget -- maintenance costs are even less clear for that part, not to mention who will pay for the construction.
Meanwhile, the Big Island can't find a few $M for decent roads...