NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is pushing for Sydney's light rail to be finished a year early.
Her comments come as a leaked internal review warns the government talked up the project before the challenging realities were fully known.
Screenshots of a 2016 report entitled "Lessons for Rail", released by Labor leader Luke Foley's office on Sunday, show changes to the project design triggered delays and hefty costs due to "onerous" contract arrangements.
The report, written by Transport for NSW's internal experts, said underground "realities" - utilities and drainage - weren't fully understood as the government promoted the project.
It warned the project would be blamed or delayed when it failed to meet the "unrealistic expectations".
Ms Berejiklian said "every major project has its challenges" but her government was "pedal to the metal" to bring the project's completion date forward to 2019.
"The end date we have is March 2020 I want to see that come forward to next year," she said, noting she had not seen the leaked report.
"I'm confident the project will be done and dusted by next year."
In April Transport Minister Andrew Constance was told by the consortium building the light rail that construction was a year behind schedule.
A month later a $4 million lawsuit was launched by a contractor working on the project which accused the government of breaching contract and misleading behaviour.
The government was already locked in a NSW Supreme Court battle against Spanish sub-contractor Acciona, which wants an extra $1.2 billion saying it was misled over the complexity of the project.
Sunday's leaked report says numerous promises were made to consult with stakeholders but no time was actually set aside because the design process was "severely limited" by contracts and a "punitive modifications system".
Mr Foley told reporters in Sydney the premier's claims didn't stack up.
"This is the most poorly delivered infrastructure project in the history of NSW," he said.
There was "no end in sight" for the hundreds of small businesses and the members of the public affected by the construction, Mr Foley said.
Ms Berejiklian said the impact on small business was what she "felt worst about" but she still backs the light rail.
"I'm also confident when we have the system up and running it'll be a major, major boost for people moving around and getting from one point of the city to another," she said.
Share
