On Dec. 20, the contractor responsible for delivering HART’s railcars, among other things, filed a lawsuit against the City & County of Honolulu seeking $324 million, as reported by Civil Beat. The suit by Hitachi Rail Honolulu JV alleges that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation mismanaged the project and its deadlines, resulting in Hitachi having to spend that amount to deal with the delays.
Is $324 million a lot of money for Honolulu? To put the amount into perspective, we looked at the city’s spending to see what it represents. Here’s what else Honolulu could spend that money on:
1 year of salaries for the entire Honolulu Police Department, as in, all the salaries. HPD expects to spend nearly $320 million on salaries in the 2025 fiscal year.
9,000 lifeguards for a year, or 900 lifeguards for 10 years. Based on median pay of $36,000 per year, according to Glassdoor.com.
732 units of affordable senior rental housing. Based on the per-unit cost of $442,857 for Aloha Iā Halewilikō, the city’s affordable senior rental project under construction in Aiea, budgeted at $62 million for 140 units.
88 miles of extensive road repaving. Based on an ongoing project along Kapiolani Boulevard involving road reconstruction, new curbing and gutters, tree maintenance and more at $11 million for three miles, or $3.66 million per mile.
964 years of the salary of Lori Kahikina, HART’s executive director and CEO. Kahikina was awarded a new three-year contract last September at a salary of $336,000 per year.
A. Kam Napier can be reached at kam@alohastatedaily.com.
