AS POLITICIANS hailed yesterday's roading announcement, members of local iwi said they were disappointed questions regarding Maori land designated for a major highway project had still not been answered.
Transport Minister Simon Bridges was in Rotorua yesterday to announce a $24 million roading package for the upgrading of Te Ngae Rd, but left the door open regarding what the Government would do with land designated in 1964 for a major highway known as the Rotorua Eastern Arterial (REA).
According to a statement released by Mr Bridges, the intended route for the REA was designated as a state highway in 1963, meaning there was an official intention from the Government to build a road along the route.
The purpose of the designation was to ensure landowners were aware of the intention and potential for a road to be built.
Lifting the designation would provide certainty to local landowners that a road would not be built there in future, "but the Government wants to be certain that the REA is not required before lifting it, because once it is lifted the land will be able to be used for other things thereby making it difficult to repurpose as a state highway in the future".