Tūwharetoa buys 8,500ha of central North Island Crown land

Tūwharetoa buys 8,500ha of central North Island Crown-owned land for $20M

April 22 (BusinessDesk) - The Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust and associated entities has paid about $20 million for 8,500 hectares of Crown-owned land in the central North Island, adding to the vast swathe of forestry land vested in the region's iwi under the CNI Forests Collective Settlement.

The purchase price doesn't include the forestry crop on the land, which is commercially sensitive, Corrections Minister Peseta Sam-Lotu-Iiga said in a statement. The land includes the Tongariro-Rangipo Corrections Facility and the Hautu prison farm near Turangi. Under the terms of the sale, Corrections will retain the prison facilities lease land including about 700ha for a training farm, from the Trust, Lotu-Iiga said.

The transaction will see several wāhi tapu and two rivers important to the iwi returned to tribal ownership, concluding negotiations that began in 2008.

The Central North Island Forest Collective Settlement deed between the Crown and eight central North Island iwi in 2008 included the right to purchase Crown-owned land from Corrections. The Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust owns 11.25 percent of CNI Iwi Holdings, which holds 90 percent by value of the 176,000 hectares of Crown forest land in the central North Island. CNI Iwi will then decide how the land is allocated between various interests.

(BusinessDesk)

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