Provincial Growth Fund: $18.8m for Māori development projects

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones. Photo / RNZ, Dom Thomas

By RNZ

The Government has announced $18.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for Māori development projects to create infrastructure and jobs.

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced the funding for projects bringing more than 300 jobs with Māori firms and assets across the country.

"This investment allows these businesses to diversify into other sectors and markets and grow the Māori asset base in the regions," Jones said.

• $5 million for Poutama Trust for a national project "Poutama ki te taumata" to identify regional Māori business able to upscale - Job numbers TBC

• $719,000 for Taumata Tirotiro Ltd for the Nga Whenua Whanui project in Northland developing four Māori-owned blocks of land for beef farming - eight jobs

• $912,000 grant for Pukerewa 'A' Trust in Waikato to install water reticulation, subdivide paddocks, and install fencing at Pukerewa Station - seven jobs short term, two long term

• $986,000 grant for Tuhoe Tuawhenua Trust to build a Food Production Hub in Ruatāhuna - up to 10 jobs short term, and 25 by 2023

• $3.9 million loan and $165,000 grant for Ngāti Pūkenga Investment Limited in Bay of Plenty to develop underutilised Māori land into a 7ha Sungold kiwifruit orchard in Welcome Bay; restore 3ha of wetlands and restore a 2ha protected pā site - 16 jobs short term, 13.5 long term

• $549,000 loan for Onuku Māori Lands Trust in Bay of Plenty to convert a dairy operation to sheep milking - 3 jobs short term, plus seasonal work

• $971,158 for Te Aitanga a Māhaki Trust in Tairāwhiti to develop land for forestry on 23 Māori land blocks west of Gisborne - 10 jobs short term, 170 long term

• $495,838 to install fencing and establish crops and upgrades to campground at Parera Station in Tairāwhiti - 10 short term jobs, two long term

• $489,900 to develop 460ha of underutilised land including fencing and water reticulation in Tairāwhiti - 12 jobs

• $1.62 million loan and a $894,636 grant for Ngā Wairiki - Ngāti Apa Developments Limited to develop Harakeke Strawberry Farm in Manawatū-Whanganui - 25 jobs for a year, up to 36 within three years

• $1.23 million loan and $950,000 grant for the Rakiura Māori Lands Trust to develop visitor infrastructure including tracks and shelters, a predator-proof fence, a new wharf and a building at the Rakiura Oneki Southern Wilderness Experience on Rakiura (Stewart Island) - 30 jobs

• Total funding: $18,882,532

"Many of these groups would not have received funding from commercial sources as their assets are on collectively owned Māori land," Jones said.

He said further announcements to the benefit of Māori businesses and communities were yet to come.