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Te Runanga o Ngati Porou is saying a big thank you to its supporters by pledging $5 million to its 50 East Coast marae over the next five years.
Chairperson Apirana Mahuika says the money will come through the Ngati Porou Holding Company, which was set up to manage the tribe’s treaty settlement and grow its wealth.
He says it’s a way to acknowledge the whanau and hapu, who own the marae.
"It’s not the size of the koha that you give them but its the spirit in which you acknowledge their contribution to the things that we have done so we are enormously grateful for them and that is the reason for the $5m over five years for 50 marae," he says
Mr Mahuika says marae will also benefit from Ngati Porou’s trade training scheme with Eastland Institute of Technology, in which trainees work on marae for some of their practical papers.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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