$8m boost for the North
On the first day of
March, my Cabinet colleague and fellow Far North resident Kelvin Davis delivered an important package that will help community-led economic development in our region.
The package from the Provincial Growth Fund is worth a total of $8 million and will provide assistance with a wide range of projects. The largest boost by far is the $4.6m that is going to the Kupe Waka Centre the development, which is being driven by the Far North’s newest knight, Sir Hekenukumai Ngaiwi Puhipi Busby.
The centre, to be built at Aurere at the southern end of Doubtless Bay will realise a long-held ambition of Sir Hek.
The centre will have three important roles. It will preserve the knowledge of how our ancestors came to Aotearoa from Hawaiiki and continue Sir Hek’s tradition of demonstrating how traditional knowledge can be used to build and sail waka over vast distances. It will also be a significant addition to the tourist attractions.
We are also investing $3m in completing the Te Hiku multi-use sports centre in Kaitaia. The centre will be a very valuable facility to help young people develop good fitness habits and discipline, and for the wider community to maintain healthy lifestyles. All will be more productive in their private and working lives. It will also help retain people in the Kaitaia community.
The remainder of the $8.2m — $606,500 — will be used to investigate and support the development of other community-led projects. One will investigate building and operating a barge site at Te Mingi for transporting logs to Whangarei. A second will investigate a water storage project that can support high-value horticultural development on high-value lands in the Far North.
Finally, three of the Muriwhenua iwi — Te Aupouri, Nga¯ti Kahu and Te Rarawa — will be supported to develop their capability to work on significant joint development projects.
Each of these contributions has been rightly praised by the recipients and community figures like Far North mayor John Carter.
Why are we making these investments? Our region has not shared in the economic growth and prosperity that have benefited other parts of our country. This has partly been the result of many years of neglect by successive governments. NZ First and this government are determined that this will no longer be the case and regions like the Far North, with beautiful natural environments and talented, hard-working people, will realise their potential.
The projects announced by Kelvin Davis build on a series of other projects supported by the Provincial Growth Fund in our region. Among these are the upgrades to wharves in Opua, Pahia and Russell costing a total of $5.7m, the tourism hub at Kawakawa ($2.3m), the cultural centre project at Opononi — Manea Footprints of Kupe ($4.6m) — currently in the news — the upgrade to our airport at Kerikeri ($1.75m) and a number of road projects including the Waipapa intersection project at Kerikeri ($9m). The largest is the Ma¯ori Battalion museum to be built at Waitangi to honour the contribution of the battalion in World War II ($14.5m).
These projects and others for which I think people in the Far North will be seeking support will have a major positive effect on progress in the Far North for generations.
"Our region has not shared in the economic growth and prosperity that have benefited other parts of our country. This has partly been the result of many years of neglect by successive governments."