The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced that the Hawaii rail project's financial plan must be "further strengthened" prior to their agency committing up to $1.55 billion in federal funding for the project. Leslie Rogers, the FTA's Regional Administrator, noted that the city needs to have better contingency plans in the even that there is a unexpected cash shortfall or if the costs for the rail project is higher than anticipated.
Interim executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, Toru Hamayasu, traveled to Washington D.C. to meed with the Federal Transit Administration. Hamayasu stated, "The meeting was the start of the conversation, and no decision or requirements were made regarding how to best demonstrate the availability of additional resources. We agreed to work together on this in the coming months, and we remain confident that we will be able to reach our goal of completing our Full Funding Grant Agreement with the FTA (to obtain federal funding) in the fall."
Hamayasu also stated that he believes that Honolulu's financial plan is adequate to pay for the project. Hamayasu replied in an email message, "The HART staff has developed those options in its financial plan. We also discussed mechanisms associated with those options. We will continue to provide the FTA with the funding assurances it may need should the FTA require such additional assurances during the Full Funding Grant Agreement process."
Opponents to the rail project believes that the Federal Transit Administration is right in challenging the city of Honolulu to provide a stronger financial plan. These opponents argue that the city is not prepared for unexpected costs associated with projects of this size.
