The state agency that licenses construction industry contractors says recent claims that the Maui wildfire disaster has caused long delays within its application system that have hampered the progress of the Skyline project to Kakaako are unfounded.
Assertions about those alleged state-level delays were made Sept. 15 during a Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board of directors meeting.
At that meeting, during questions over bids for a potential contractor to build the so-called City Center Guideway and Stations project in Kakaako, HART Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina told the board the “first part of the procurement is supposed to be due in October.” But she said delays were occurring at the state’s Contractors License Board, largely due to the Maui wildfire disaster.
“There’s an influx of contractors wanting to help on Maui that are trying to get their license, which I understand is causing the delay,” Kahikina said, adding that as a result, HART will likely need an “extension from October to possibly December, maybe even January.”
To that, board member Robert Yu asked whether the holdup will affect the schedule to complete the rail line at the Civic Center terminus.
“Not at this point,” Kahikina replied. “We still feel we can finish the full project by 2031.”
But she asserted that due to delays involving the contractor board, awarding the actual bid for work on the Civic Center guideway and stations project could drag on.
“We wanted to award it by the summer of next year,” Kahikina said, “but right now that might be delayed a few months.”
This week, officials with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which oversees the licensing board, disputed the HART CEO’s assertions.
“At present, there does not exist a backlog or processing delays for licensing applications before the Contractors Licensing Board or the Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors and Landscape Architects,” the agency said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The DCCA added, “From April 2023 to present, the boards received over 800 applications. All applicants are welcome to track the status of their application online via their MyPVL user page, the MyPVL Public License Search, or to contact Boards with any questions.
“All licensing applications are processed accordingly upon submission to the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division,” the DCCA stated.
Kahikina did not immediately respond to questions regarding her assertions over the slowdown in contractor licensing.
Instead, Nate Meddings, HART’s project director, told the Star-Advertiser that the rail agency will work to ensure that contractors would be able to apply for the procurement of projects like the City Center Guideway and Stations. He added that HART extended a prior, initial deadline related to the CCGS procurement process to Dec. 11.
“The CCGS procurement is the critical path forward, so we are very pleased that the DCCA has confirmed that there is no backlog or processing delays for licensing applications before the Contractors Licensing Board or the Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors and Landscape Architects,” Meddings said via email. “We truly appreciate their partnership and support moving forward.”
According to HART’s website, the agency’s work on the rail line — the largest public works project in Hawaii history — has awarded over 82 contracts totaling about $4.6 billion since its inception.
But as costs skyrocketed for the city’s rail line, changes occurred.
Under Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration, the city in 2022 truncated the last 1.25 miles of guideways and the planned |final two stations near Ward Avenue and Ala Moana Center. That reduced costs from more than $12.45 billion for a 20-mile, 21-station route down to a $9.9 billion system with an 18.9-mile, 19-station line terminating at Halekauwila Street.
The initial nine-station, 11-mile route from East Kapolei to Halawa opened to the public June 30.
At the Sept. 15 meeting, HART staff also said they anticipated a large cash surplus — roughly $580 million — once the line reached Kakaako. That announcement sparked interest in seeing Skyline continue to its original final destination at Ala Moana Center.
To achieve that goal, Yu said he wanted HART to do more planning.
“Instead of just talking about it, maybe we could put together some kind of business plan, from Civic Center to Ala Moana,” said Yu, adding such a plan could include construction costs as well as ways of gaining potential revenue. “We have $580 million; don’t know whether that’s enough, right? It seems like a lot of money, and it seems like HART always uses more money than we estimate. So, a business plan would be good with respect to going to Ala Moana.”
