United States Senator Daniel Inouye has made it very clear that he believes that the Federal Transit Administration will provide Honolulu with the $1.55 billion that the city needs to build its $5.26 billion rail project. Inouye noted that the city has submitted its official application to the FTA last week. Inouye stated, “Unofficially, they’re (FTA) pleased that everything was in line, that it was properly done.”
However, former Govenor Ben Cayetano, who is running for mayor of Honolulu on an anti-rail platform, disagrees and feels that the city should have created a contigency plan just incase they do not get all $1.55 billion. Cayetano stated, “By starting construction on vacant, prime farmland four miles from Kapolei, if funding runs short and construction is halted, the city will not be able to operate the rail line to generate any kind of meaningful ridership, if at all. A contingency plan for rail should have been developed for the same reason the state has a contingency plan for tsunamis and hurricanes.”
Inouye had previously stated that the only thing that could stop the rail funding was World War III. However, when asked more recently by members of the media, he softened his tone and stated, “There are a lot of things that could halt this. As I’ve said, there could be a war. Also, there could be this terrible thing that’s confronting us called sequestration, and I hope to God it never happens.” Sequestration falls under the Federal Budget Control Act of 2011 and would impose a $1.2 trillion of automatic spending cuts over 10 years if triggered.
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 7-6-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
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