April 30, 2018
Job promise wins trust for water bottler
Plans by a Chinese-owned bottling company to take more water from Otakiri Springs in the Bay of Plenty has split tangata whenua.
Opponents including iwi groups say the expansion by Nongfu, which trades here as Creswell Enterprises, mean the plant could produce up to 1.3 million bottles a day.
But Hemana Eruera from the Kokohinau Papakianga Trust says the plant will benefit Maori living in the Rangitaiki plains.
He says Nongfu discussed its plans on marae in the area and highlighted an increase of up to 50 jobs in the plant.
That offsets the potential environmental affects.
"Our trust still appreciates the mauri of the whenua, the mauri of the wai, and also the mauri of the kaitiaki of our land and water. We respect the spiritual aspects of us as iwi Maori but we are looking now at the physical aspects of our uri Maori and that is the unemployed," Mr Eruera says.
The resource consent hearing started on Monday 30 April 2018
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