Auckland Transport (AT) will be releasing details of all its contracts publicly.
Since it was established in 2010, AT routinely published the details of all contracts valued over $50,000 on its website. That threshold has now been dropped to zero.
AT Chairman, Dr Lester Levy, says that as a publicly-funded body, the organisation wants to be as transparent and accountable as possible.
“There is a small extra administrative burden in releasing this sort of information, but we feel that it’s worth it to allow more open scrutiny of our activities,” he said. "This demonstrates a clear commitment to being open and accountable to the public at large."
Levy said the nature of some of AT's activities, such as property negotiations, means that sometimes information is commercially-sensitive and involves third-party businesses or individuals.
“In those cases, and to protect the interests of ratepayers and taxpayers, they are dealt with confidentially. However, when the reason for that confidentiality no longer exists, the material is routinely released (and published on AT’s website).”
