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A Te Teko marae is targeting at least 20 jobs from a controversial new water-bottling plant.
Chinese water giant Nongfu Springs through its New Zealand subsidiary Cresswell has been given permission to buy land to expand the Otakiri Springs water bottling plant near Whakatāne,
Jobs will increase from eight to 60 over the next four years as it ramps up to export a billion litres of water a year.
Kōkōhinau Marae chair Hemana Eruera says that’s why the project won the backing of the marae committee, despite opposition from some in the iwi.
"You don't need to be a scientist to actually get a job in the plant. We do have in our community a lot of our people that have no qualifications and we are saying to our people to step up and start preparing yourselves to be employed," he says.
Hemana Eruera says jobs will make a great change in the lives of many of the area’s people.
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