Te Arawa may build geothermal power station

Te Arawa may build a geothermal power station in the Central North Island with money from its multimillion-dollar settlement with the Government.

A final Deed of Settlement was signed on Saturday between the Crown and Nga Kaihautu o Te Arawa executive council.

The deal includes $36 million and the offer of using that money to buy back 50,000ha of forestry land as well as four geothermal wells in Reporoa, six Rotorua schools and an Owhata residential property currently in the hands of the Ministry of Social Development.

Executive council chairman Eru George confirmed the council was looking at the possibility of building a power station in the next five years, and was in discussions with trustees of land in the region already used for a geothermal power station.

"That would be the ultimate to build a geothermal power station because I can see the potential that derives from the income," he said.

That income would then be used for further investments, education grants and possibly a health insurance scheme for Te Arawa people as well as other opportunities.

It will take about 18 months for the settlement to be enacted. It will have to pass three readings in Parliament and go through a select committee process before it can be officially settled.

Te Arawa will not receive the $36 million for another 18 months but the council will hand out just over $1.2 million after December this year.

Mr George was not prepared to say at this stage where that money would come from but said each of the 30 Te Arawa marae affiliated with Nga Kaihautu would receive $5000 while each of its iwi would get $100,000.

Other than receiving rental income Te Arawa would not be able to do much with the forestry land as there was a covenant on it for the next 28 years, which was the rotation period for trees, Mr George said.

A new executive council would be appointed when the settlement was enacted by Parliament and he hoped to be part of that, he said.

Mr George disputed comments by lawyer Donna Hall, who acts for the Ngati Rangiteaorere hapu which pulled out of the council.

Ms Hall said there was a huge lack of clarity over who would be able to vote to ratify the weekend's decision. She claimed there were "thousands" of people who had not enrolled because they did not believe they were entitled to vote and would now miss out.

Mr George said people were registering to vote up to a few days before the settlement was reached.

Voting figures were not available.