June 30, 2015
Tuwharetoa deal major milestone
A Tuwharetoa group says it will start earning revenue immediately from a $52 million deal to buy Rangipo Prison and 8500 hectares of adjoining land and forestry.
Hautu-Rangipo Whenua Limited, which is a partnership between the Tuwharetoa Settlement Trust, eight hapu collective and five of the central North Island tribe's and forestry trusts, paid $20 million for the land as part of a deferred treaty settlement process.
The balance was for the forestry rights, which were on-sold for 30 years to New Zealand-based forestry management company Taupo Estate, which is itself managed by Sydney-based forestry investment manager New Forests.
Settlement trust chair Dylan Tahau says the deal was a major milestone for the iwi.
He says the land at Hautu-Rangipo has several waahi tapu, and a number of rivers and streams flowing through it and into Lake Taupo, so there are both economic and cultural benefits to having it returned.
The purchase agreement also includes a significant commitment to change farm land to forestry in order to protect the water quality in Lake Taupo by reducing Nitrate leaching.
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