ARTA chairman contender for Auckland transition
May 21st, 2009
Old allegiances break down in times of reform. Auckland Regional Transport Authority chairman, Mark Ford, a veteran of the city’s infrastructure services, is tipped for the five-person Auckland transition agency, which is to oversee the restructuring. Transport Minister, Steven Joyce, will only say Ford “seems like a nice man” though reports Ford lobbied Joyce for ARTA to become the region’s new transport authority are a beat up.
Joyce favours responsibility for Auckland’s highways being retained by the NZ Transport Agency, which will work closely with ARTA’s successor. It “doesn’t make sense to have that subbed over to a regional body.” The Govt isn’t rushing to finalise the shape of the new transport authority or the candidates to run the organisation. It wants to ensure it makes “the right call” and keeps the structure “as simple as possible.”
Ford’s seen as a sitter for the Auckland transition agency because of his knowledge of the city’s transport needs and his day job as CEO of Watercare Services. A role in the transition teams and the new transport authority, though, may be a bridge too far, with potential conflict of interest. Ford’s regarded as a strong, brusque personality though the Cabinet is concerned to name a transition agency head with super-human political leadership skills.
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