So after years of planning, plotting, avoiding and then talking about the elusive Convention Centre, are the people of Christchurch any closer to a finite answer of what they're tax dollars will buy? For those in tourism the wait is getting old and surely embarrassing as the Convention Centre Bureau is forced to keep passing on international event offers for fear the building won't be ready. In the past five years the Government has spent almost $20 million on the non-existent centre, without breaking any ground on the empty site. The bill for the non-existent project grows ever larger, with the amount spent on professional services and advice jumping by $3 million in just the past month. Christchurch's proposed Convention Centre has been a thorn in the city's side for years, and even the man behind the contentious project, Christchurch Regeneration Minister Gerry Brownlee, admits there's been a lot of public angst about the whole situation.

Source: New Zealand Herald June 30, 2016 07:30 UTC