Christchurch’s new One NZ Stadium has come in $26 million under budget.

Mauger told Chris Lynch Media the final stadium cost had been approved, with the city set to get $26 million back from the fixed price contract.

“We’re getting $26 million back from the fixed price, so very good news today,” Mauger said.

“So how many times do you see things go over budget, and it just goes on and on? We got 26 mil back, so that’s very good news.”

Mauger said the saving was largely due to contingency funding not being required.

“A lot of it will have been contingency. Some contractors way back in the day used to look at a contingency as a bit of money that was there to be grabbed, but we had very good project managers and very good builders to work with, and they worked well together, and didn’t do us over.”

Asked whether the $26 million saving meant the project had been over budgeted in the first place, Mauger said that was not the case.

“The majority of it, or just about all of it, is what they call contingency, and that is things in a contract for hidden things, like under the ground there was a problem, or something was terribly wrongly designed.

“But because the builders were the designers as well, we had no grief whatsoever, and the project team that we had on it was outstanding.”

Mauger also responded to concerns over an unsolicited proposal involving Lyttelton Port Company.

Port unions have raised concerns about what they described as backdoor privatisation, but Mauger said his position had not changed.

“I said all the way through my mayoral campaign that we would not sell the port, we would not lease the port, or Orion, or the airport.”

Mauger said Christchurch City Holdings Limited received an unsolicited proposal to lease the port on Wednesday.

He said he became aware of it on Thursday afternoon.

“We have also given a letter of expectation to Christchurch City Holdings from the council, saying we do not want you to lease it or sell it, and they are very cognisant of that.”

Mauger said unsolicited approaches were not unusual.

“Within the last year, they actually had someone come along and say we will buy all of Christchurch City Holdings, but obviously we didn’t sell it.

“These sorts of things come in and out all the time, so don’t worry, guys, we’re looking sharp.”

Asked whether he rejected claims the proposal amounted to backdoor privatisation, Mauger said he stood by the position he campaigned on.

“As I said, I electioneered on it and said that we’re not going to get rid of it. We’ve done a letter of expectation, said we don’t want that, and that’s where I stand.”

Mauger said he would like to see Christchurch secure at least one Oceania Football Confederation match at One NZ Stadium next year.

“I’d love to see anything that goes to One NZ. That is good.”

He said the stadium team was working through event scheduling.

“They’ve got little balls juggling in the air, and as games come up, they’ve got a lot of work to do, but they’re doing a fantastic job.”

Mauger said the strong turnout for the recent women’s rugby match showed the stadium had momentum.

“They put tickets out at $2 each, just to get people in there, and it worked very well. It was a record crowd.”

On the Government’s proposed changes to local government structures, Mauger said Christchurch merging with Selwyn and Waimakariri was not necessarily the likely outcome.

“There’s 11 councils in Canterbury. The Government have been very clear they want three, and I’d imagine it’s going to be a South Canterbury, a North Canterbury, and us.”

Mauger said the key question was whether Christchurch stayed within its current boundaries or expanded.

“The point of difference at the moment is how big is us. Do we stay the size we are, do we expand into our neighbours? We’ve just got to work with our neighbours and see if they’re happy with that, and I can tell you right now there’s two of them that aren’t very happy.”

He said it was possible Christchurch could remain as it is.

“It could well be that it’s just us going forward, because we will be a unitary.”

Mauger said Canterbury mayors and councillors were expected to meet within the next two weeks to discuss the issue.

He also defended his recent trip to China, saying it was worthwhile for Christchurch.

Mauger said Christchurch had a long standing sister city relationship with Wuhan, while Shenzhen had now moved from a friendship city arrangement to a full sister city agreement.

“It just opens the door for more cooperation between the cities.”

He said the trip included visits to wastewater treatment plants, a BYD electric vehicle plant, a waste to energy plant, and a trackless tram system.

“They are so far ahead of it, as far as infrastructure.”

Mauger said Christchurch could learn from Shenzhen’s use of solar panels over wastewater treatment infrastructure.

“They’ve put solar panels over the top of their wastewater treatment plant, not the oxidation ponds, but the plant itself, so all the power goes straight into the plant.

“I’m looking at things like that, and it’s good stuff.”