Local Focus: Pāpāmoa Hills upgrade on track

Boasting some of the Bay of Plenty's best views, it's not surprising that Te Rae o Pāpāmoa visitor numbers have skyrocketed.

It's also one of the most significant cultural and archaeological landscapes in New Zealand and a much-needed upgrade is well under way.

"This project at Pāpāmoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park is one that's been talked about for a long time," Pim de Monchy from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council said.

"The carpark and entrance to the park have been a bit of an interim solution for the past 10 or 15 years. As visitor numbers to the park have grown year-on-year - we're now at around 100,000 - we thought it was time to invest some capital and provide an opportunity for the four iwi partners to the park to tell their story and tell the public of Tauranga just how important this is as a site."

The design process has been a collaborative effort between a number of council partners and the iwi.

"We're working really closely with Waitaha, Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngā Potiki and Ngāti He, as a hapu of Ngāi te Rangi," de Monchy said.

And he says the latest design is impressive.

"It's pretty fascinating. It's a waka that lands at this embayment where the new carpark is. And it has a circular entrance way where people can enter the park and see a mixture of relevant stories from the past through to the present.

"Then they go through a waharoa entrance way that leads into the track network itself."

A new carpark will create 86 spaces on top of the 60 already available, and there'll also be designated spots for buses.

For the iwi, it's a chance to tell the story of the coming together of three waka.

"We finally get a chance to tell our story about Te Rae o Pāpāmoa," Whareoteriri Rahiri of Waitaha said.

"The significance of Pāpāmoa Hills to us is the amount of history that it contains, the cultural sites that are there and also the commanding views that we have."

After the initial concept was signed off last year, the project has now reached its "worked-through design" milestone.

The next step is to do a detailed design and an "expression of interest" with construction contractors in the region.

All going well, construction of the new elements will begin in November.

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