A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Central government support for some key planks of the Tairawhiti Economic Action Plan launched today are very welcome.
The plan itself was only made public as The Herald was going to press late this morning, and will be reported on tomorrow, but the Government announcements associated with it were suppliedovernight under embargo.
They show central government priorities for boosting the region’s economy are closely aligned with what is generally accepted by community, iwi and business leaders here — that there are major opportunities in tourism and wood processing, that we need better state highway and digital connections, and we need to do more to help people into work.
First off, our transport infrastructure needs investment. Rather than turning down what will no doubt have been a request for multimillion-dollar spending on our state highways, the Government today announced it would work with local stakeholders this year to create an Integrated Transport Priority Plan. In the meantime it will spend $1.5 million on tourism-related transport infrastructure.
Perhaps most importantly, though, many of our young people face significant barriers to employment and becoming productive members of society. New funding of $1.8m over three years to help grow the skills and capability of Tairawhiti’s labour force, in support of the Tairawhiti Youth Employment Strategy, appears to be well targeted.
The Government also announced today that it would invest $2m in the Wood Engineering Technology (WET) Gisborne joint venture at Prime Sawmill — a significant vote of support for this business being developed by Eastland Community Trust and WET Ltd that is tipped to create 120 highly-skilled jobs, and has potential to open plants in future near more remote forests.
A widening of the region’s Erosion Control Funding Programme is also good news.
Explicit in the plan are the goals of creating 1220 new jobs over the next five years, alongside a 25 percent lift in processing and value-added production . . . ambitious and achievable goals, if everyone works “hard together”.
