It’s a red letter day for the mid-north with the launch of a water storage dam at Matawii near Ngawha.
Former regional economic development minister Shane Jones says the 750,000 cubic metre reservoir will not only future-proof water supplies for Kaikohe but also offer options for landowners in the area, including many Maori blocks, to move into more high value land use.
It was built by Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust, led by former MPs Dover Samuels, Murray McCully and Kathryn de Bruin, with funding from the help of the Provincial Growth Fund, after Kaikohe went through a severe drought in the summer of 2019-2020.
“I was able to fund it with a sum of $60 million endorsed by Cabinet. It’s a postive development, a long term contribution and it’s waht sadly we don’t see enough of in New Zealand – we hear a lot about projects, processes, consultancy groups, but we actuallty need bog-standard infrastruture on the ground,” Mr Jones says.
A second 4 million cubic metre reservoir is being planned near Waimate North, and work is well under way at the Te Waihekeora reservoir near Glinks Gully in Kaipara.
