(TRENTON) — Assembly Transportation Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) released the following statement Thursday on documents provided by the Christie administration through an Open Public Records Act request on the governor’s decision to halt construction of the new commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River:
“The documents provided by the governor’s own administration fail to provide any justification for the governor’s claim of billions in cost overruns on the tunnel project.
“That claim seems as though it was simply pulled out of thin air by the governor.
“The governor is risking New Jersey’s economic future with numbers that, at least according to these documents, have no basis in reality.
“Over-the-top sound bites by Gov. Christie aside, the fact is the OPRA documents include reports dated July 30, Aug. 24 and Oct. 5. All of the reports include the following statement: ‘The overall project remains within budget.’ The next sentence in each report indicates the total project budget is $8.7 billion.
“Note that the Oct. 5 report came two days before the governor announced the alleged cost overruns.
“This project is vital to New Jersey’s economic and transportation future. Now that we know for certain that the governor cannot support his cost overrun claims, it’s time for him to act like a leader and get this project moving forward.”
The documents can be viewed here.