Auckland's City Rail Link boss says compensation talks should head back to the government.

Sean Sweeney says they're negotiating with two businesses around how to mitigate disruption caused by the project's roadworks.

He told Mike Hosking they don't have a remit to provide compensation, which is what the majority of the businesses are asking for.

"There are real limits to what we can do, we are continuing to explore different options as well.

"There was an expectation that because there had been some major roading projects done recently that had gone reasonably well, the same framework would work. But it hasn't worked in the same way."

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