Rail contractor will brief city on finances

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Lorenzo Reffreger, vice president of sales and marketing for AnsaldoBreda Inc., front, and Eugenio Dotta, senior vice president of Ansaldo STS in Italy, showed examples of the company’s rail cars and systems last week at Ansaldo Honolulu’s offices.

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Executives of the firms awarded the largest contract in state history will update transit officials here next month on the companies’ financial health as work on the city’s 20-mile, $5.26 billion rail project moves forward.

Ansaldo Honolulu JV Project Manager and Managing Director Enrico Fontana will join Ansaldo STS Chief Financial Officer Christian Andi to present the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board with new financial details and answer any questions during a March 7 board meeting. The session was requested by HART finance officials and will be open to the public.

Ansaldo Honolulu JV, a joint venture of transit companies Ansaldo Breda and Ansaldo STS, was awarded a $1.4 billion city contract to design, build, operate and maintain the train system.

That is separate from the stations, track and support columns.

"Given the magnitude of the contract, we want to make sure the vendor has the capacity to perform. That’s all I can say for now," HART Finance Committee Chairman Don Horner said Thursday after a joint meeting with the Project Oversight Committee. The HART board will also ask for updates on the design of the rail cars, Horner said.

Both Ansaldo companies are owned or partly owned by Finmeccanica SpA, which has been dogged by financial problems in the past couple of years. In November 2011 the Italian defense company reported third-quarter losses of more than $1 billion and saw its stock plummet 60 percent.

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Last month, S&P cut Finmeccanica’s debt rating to junk status amid concerns it wouldn’t be able to sell off its energy and rail assets to reduce overall debt.

Fontana said Thursday there’s no reason for the public and transit officials to worry about whether the joint venture will deliver.

"Just a few days ago our companies opened our fourth driverless rail transit system, in Milano, Italy," Fontana said Thursday in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "Our March presentation to HART will again demonstrate our ability to deliver a world-class system to Honolulu residents. On-time, and on-budget."