Listen Now: 
October 26, 2021
Gravel maggots no barrier to Te Araroa barge port
Adam Gifford
Posted On October 26, 2021
Download AudioBackers of a proposed barging facility at Te Araroa on the East Coast are seeking wider community support after identifying a pathway to consent.
Project secretary Tiwana Tibble says a report from consulting firm Boffa Miskell clearly sets out the challenges and opportunities.
He says the facility, which comes with funding earmarked from the government’s Provincial Growth Fund, will economically transform the area and lead to jobs and higher returns for the hapū owners of the region’s forests.
The development would take up about 50 metres of a 6 kilometre beach, and the environmental impacts are manageable.
“There’s some rare maggots in the shingle we’ve got to protect and we will do that. There’s issues about the wetlands that are there. Gisborne District Council records are 50 years old so they’ve got to get that right. There are challenges. They’re more than minor. But on balance we can get resource consent to do this on Māori land owned by the local hapū,” Mr Tibble says.
Te Araroa Barge Facility Working Group is holding a public meeting in the township on Saturday.
RELATED NEWS
