The rail transit board Thursday authorized the payment of $48.4 million for change orders and other additional costs due to delays in the project.

Dan Grabauskas, executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, told board members that the latest price changes bump the total amount attributable to project delays to $165,771,851.

Besides a lawsuit that held up the project for nearly 13 months, construction of the West Oahu/Farrington Highway segment was delayed by 20 months as a result of failing to gain all necessary permits prior to awarding the contract.

Grabauskas said that including HART’s cost to litigate the lawsuit — along with an anticipated higher cost to purchase rebar — pushes the total amount that can be attributed to delays to between $185 million and $190 million.

HART officials insisted, however, that the bottom-line price tag for the project really hasn’t changed because the additional expenses are being taken out of a general contingency account that is already built into the project’s $5.26 billion cost.

The HART staff reported a $550.1 million overall project contingency balance at the start of Thursday’s meeting, which did not include the $48.5 million added at the meeting. The project began with a contingency budget of $643.6 million.

Also Thursday, the HART board gave the go-ahead for its staff to begin eminent-domain proceedings against owners of two properties — one for an electrical easement in Kalihi, the second to allow for guideway construction in Aiea.

Ownership in both cases is muddy, involving multiple parties who actually want the eminent-domain process to begin to clear up the title issues, said Elizabeth Scanlon, HART director of planning and right-of-way.

"They’ve asked us to help them resolve those matters," Scanlon said.