The audit is needed “to determine whether an employee or other person has exploited internal control weaknesses to misappropriate assets or commit other illegal actions,” Tsuneyoshi wrote in a Honolulu city council resolution she filed on February 12.
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (Hart) is building a 32km driverless elevated metro line with 21 stations, running from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium and Ala Moana Centre. While construction commenced in 2014, the project has faced funding issues with costs ballooning to $US 8.3bn last year from $US 5.16bn in 2012.
Among the consultants, vendors and suppliers singled out in the resolution are:
- InfraConsult, programme management support, ($US 11.9m contract awarded on April 20, 2007
- PB Americas, engineering consultant ($US 168m contract awarded on August 24, 2007; and $US 300m awarded on June 30 2011)
- GEOLABS ($US 1.2m for drill shaft load testing, awarded on June 30, 2009)
- Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. ($US 486m contract awarded on October 21 2009; and $US 372m awarded on March 21 2011)
- HDR Engineering, architectural/engineering services ($US 5.5m contract awarded on January 12 2011)
- Ansaldo Honolulu JV, a metro car manufacturing joint venture of Ansaldo STS and Hitachi Rail Italy ($US 1.4bn contract awarded on March 21 2011), and
- Aecom Technical Services ($US 3m for design review, awarded on June 7 2011).
The resolution comes just a month after the state’s auditor suggested that inadequate oversight of HDR Engineering (HDR) may have contributed to cost overruns in the project. Employees of HDR were given key roles within the transit organisation, including top positions overseeing project budget and cost management, in addition to design and construction. Hart paid $US 9.6m last year for the services of the HDR employees.
