March 10, 2020
Road plan offers relief for Ngati Tama
Ngāti Tama members are preparing to vote on an offer from the New Zealand Transport Agency to swap land needed to realign the highway over Mount Messenger.
The final information hui will be held at Takapuwahia Marae in Porirua next Monday before the vote, which needs to get 75 per cent support.
The offer will help the North Taranaki iwi replenish its coffers, which are almost empty after its treaty settlement money disappeared in a haze of high-risk investments.
In exchange for handing over about 20 hectares of land the iwi got as cultural redress in its 2003 settlement, it will get a 120-hectare property purchased by NZTA near its Urenui marae for $1.2 million.
It will also get $7.7 million compensation for cultural impact, which will be managed by a new trust headed by former Māori Trustee Jamie Tuuta.
NZTA will also take over responsibility in perpetuity for pest management on 3650 hectares of Ngāti Tama land including its Parininihi estate, as well as provide work and business opportunities for iwi members and a role in the project's cultural design.
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