September 16, 2014
Huge development means Tainui keeps land
Tainui Group Holdings and joint venture partner Chedworth Properties are welcoming the Ruakura Board of Inquiry's final approval of their request to re-zone land at Ruakura from rural to employment and residential uses.
TGH chief executive Mike Pohio says the next step is to apply for resource consents for the first projects in what will be a multi-decade development covering 800 hectares or about 5 percent of Hamilton's land area.
The company wants to develop an industrial estate and logistics hub to take advantage of the land's proximity to the new Waikato expressway and the rail line between the port of Tauranga and Auckland, while Chedworth intends to use some of its land for housing.
Mr Pohio says Tainui originally considered using part of the former Ruakura Agresearch farm for residential subdivision, but decided that was not the best use of the tribe's most valuable asset.
"This land and land is fundamentally important to Waikato Tainui and to iwi across the country. The proposition of developing and selling the land is a strategic failure so the proposition to develop and hold the land is one that fundamentally allows Waikato Tainui to retain ownership of that relatively small area oof land that it got back in the original settlement," he says.
Tainui Group Holdings will now prepare further detailed project plans taking into account the conditions set out in the Board of Inquiry’s 500+ page ruling.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MIKE POHIO CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjIxNzQ=
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