5 May 2015

Joint venture between council and iwi pays off with multiple benefits

The Araparera Forest Joint Venture between council and a hapu of Ngati Whatua O Kaipara is being wound up with the profitable harvest of the trees.

The joint venture invested in and grew a crop of over 200ha of pine developed out of a Maori Land Court settlement enabling the hapu to work with the then Rodney Council to turn unproductive land into an asset.

Profits from harvesting will be shared between the partners based on their individual contributions over the life of the joint venture, with council’s contribution boosted by proceeds from a targeted rate on over 7,000 northern rural ratepayers from the northern riding of the former Rodney district. The council’s share of the profit is expected to be approximately $2.44 million plus interest.

The joint venture was created in 1984 and harvesting started in 2012. A total of 96,000 tonnes of timber was produced, and 70% of the resulting revenue was from exports.

The hapu is considering future land uses and may replant the land with a variety of trees once profits have been distributed.

Welcoming the settlement, the former Rodney district mayor and now Rodney Ward, Councillor Penny Webster, said: “The project has had multiple benefits, not just a financial return.

“The venture has resulted in a not insubstantial financial return of at least $2.44 million which will directly improve the local community’s roads, as well as the development of some excellent relationships between council and the local hapu and iwi..”

The council’s share of the proceeds will be spent on roads within the targeted rates area after consultation with local Councillor’s and the Rodney Local Board, and is additional to any work already in the Auckland Transport road investment programme.

The successful completion of the joint venture was celebrated at the Te Aroha Marae on Saturday 2 May and the event was attended by Cr Webster and senior hapu representatives.

“Working out the final details of the venture has taken a bit of time. These sorts of deal can be complicated but it is important to get these things right. Again, at the end of the day, there will get a much needed boost to local road funding and some great relationships with iwi and hapu,” says Cr Webster.

For more on the Araparera Forest Joint Venture visit http://www.acpl.govt.nz/

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