I think we have little chance of startup before February....

I think we have little chance of startup before February. Whichever Department is holding us up will still need it to be signed by a Minister - and Ministers are not likely to front up for duty before they have to. The fault is that the relevant Department could not be bothered getting it to the Minister before about mid December, and there is little point complaining about that now.

You must remember that the public servants involved have very little incentive to get work done and I suspect that is unlikely to change in the near future.