LOS ANGELES : MTA Chairman Calls for Control of Cost Overruns
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Michael D. Antonovich, alarmed by embarrassing new disclosures of cost overruns at the agency, ordered immediate steps Friday to tighten controls and called for a special board meeting to investigate the issue.
His directive, in a letter to MTA Chief Executive Officer Franklin E. White, came a day after agency officials disclosed that contractors on a new rail line planned for Pasadena have made at least several million dollars in unauthorized design changes on the $1-billion project.
Design work on the line is already $14 million over its initial budget.
“The failure to seek authorization for [design changes], that mentality of bankrupting the taxpayers is unconscionable,” Antonovich said.
“Frank [White] was hired to fix the problem, and if he can’t there has to be a change.”
doable.”
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