NO MORE SURPRISES!
DOWN WITH KHON2.
MANOLO MORALES PRESSED FOR
ANSWERS ON HOW HART IS GOING TO
STOP RAIL'S PRICE TAG-- NOW AT
10-BILLION
DOLLARS-- FROM RISING EVEN
HIGHER.
IT'S A STORY YOU'LL SEE ONLY ON
KHON2. MANOLO?
JOE, MURTHY TELLS ME HE LOVES A
GOOD
CHALLENGE. WITH MORE THAN 40
YEARS OF RAIL
Murthy tells me that his first
two months on the job have
handpicked the people he wants
in charge of how the rail
money is spent.
manolo: "When you mention
finance group and
procurement group, I guess both
of them have to do with
the cost of the project as it
moves forward?"
why these two groups are
extremely important."
Another important addition he
tells me is someone in charge
of risk management.
manolo: "by having a better risk
management person in
there, you're really counting on
far fewer surprises then?"
Murthy: "absolutely, we are
being proactive. not only with
the risk manager himself, or
herself, but we also have
As an example of lessons learned
from the past, the
work being done now on
Dillingham Boulevard, to
identify where all the
underground utilities are
Murthy: "It was done in a
generic way. there was in the
past..when the first contracts
were awarded..there was a
sense of urgency to get this
project moving. So some of
Murthy tells me ideally he would
like the state legislature
to extend the rail tax surcharge
indefinitely. That's
the only way to get the project
to go all the way to Ala
from HART in April. If the FTA
is not satisfied with the
recovery plan then it could pull
part or maybe all of the 1.5
murthy: "one of the options we
looked up is build the guide
way all the way up to downtown.
they say aloha
tower."
murthy: "it's not a good option.
not a good option to be really
hardest part of the project lies
ahead as it makes its way into
town. With so many obstacles, I
had to ask.
Murthy: "it looked to me as a
challenge. having been in
transit biz for 40 plus years, i
been into these situations with
other projects before, where the
public does not want it."
He says he has changed the
public perception on his past
rail projects in Los Angeles and
Seattle.
murthy: "so the long term
benefits of transit is
something..as a builder and
designer - i get satisfaction of
IF THE STATE LEGISLATURE DOES
NOT
EXTEND THE SURCHARGE, MURTHY
TELLS ME A
WAY TO ALA MOANA. MANOLO MORALES
KHON2
NEWS.
WHICH CAN BE EXTENDED.
DIRECTOR.
FERUARY SIXTEENTH.