The Gungahlin to Civic transport link, which is costing ACT taxpayers about one billion dollars, was meant to come online on December 21. It is now not expected to be up and running until some time in January.
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On Tuesday residents learned that senior figures within the ACT government, including Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris, and Chief Minister Andrew Barr, were apparently not aware Canberra Metro had pushed back the light rail operational commencement date by about a month.
Given little, apart from Summernats, takes place in this city in the first two weeks of the year, it would be no great surprise if it takes longer than that.
The delay, made public after Transport Canberra's annual report revealed the project had missed key milestones by several months, appears to have come as a complete surprise to those supposed to have been overseeing it, with Ms Fitzharris saying she was now not in a position to confirm a start date.
Under Treasurer David Nicol admitted on Monday the government had only learnt of the latest delay, apparently a unilateral decision by Canberra Metro, "very recently".
"It's only been very recently the contractor has informed us the project would now likely start in the new year rather than this year," he told a parliamentary committee.
The revelation the ACT government is unable to actually say when its flagship project, the most expensive single infrastructure development ever undertaken in the history of the territory, will be up and running comes less than a week after it was disclosed that there is, as yet, no definite site for the new hospital announced just before the 2016 election.
Apparently neither Ms Fitzharris, in her role as the ACT health minister, nor senior members of her department, had taken into account the need to give people travelling to the proposed $500 million surgical procedures, interventional radiology and emergency centre by car somewhere to park.
The need for a landing pad for the emergency rescue helicopter had also apparently been overlooked.
These oversights mean it may no longer be feasible to build the new facility adjacent to the existing hospital. Yet Ms Fitzharris assured Canberrans work would still be under way by 2020 - the year of the next ACT election.
Delays are not uncommon on large projects of this nature, and there are always unexpected surprises during construction of complex developments that can affect completion times.
But these oversights appear to stem from issues that should have been apparent some time ago, and certainly before expected completion dates were announced. They will be deeply troubling to the taxpayers of Canberra, who are yet to hear solid explanations for why they are happening.
Whether there is a pattern emerging, or this is just a series of unfortunate and unrelated setbacks, it is clear that there is work to be done within the ACT government if it wants to retain the public's trust around its ability to deliver major projects on budget and on time.
