February 07, 2020
Raukokore shows way for hapu to use PGF
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The chair of a small East Coast hapū says the Provincial Growth Fund is providing real opportunities for rural Maori communities.
Ministers on Saturday confirmed Raukokore is set to receive $10.6 million for irrigation, a $5 million loan to help the hapu establish 50 hectares of kiwifruit and an $894,000 for a macadamia plantation.
Willie Te Aho says the application under the PGF whenua Maori allocation was thoroughly scrutinised by officials and it succeeded on its merits.
“So if I can do that in my small community of Raukokore, where we have less than 50 people, it can be done in any of these rural communities so that is what this proposal is, taking Raukokore and multiplying that across the country so that our people can move home and develop our land in accordance with our tikanga and our customs, and looking after the water is part of those customs known as te mana o te wai,” he says.
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