Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jan 12, 2017 16:13:29 GMT 12
$21M BILL TO DRIVE SOUTHERN PIPELINE UNDER TAURANGA HARBOUR
Construction of this section of the Southern Pipeline to the edge of Rangataua Bay stalled last year when trustees from an adjoining Maori land trust locked the orchard access gates, preventing council contractors from accessing the construction corridor along what the council said was an unformed legal [paper] road.
It followed years of opposition from some residents of the largely Maori-owned peninsula to the pipeline being laid through the middle of their lands because of cultural sensitivities surrounding human waste.
Maori trustees challenged the paper road, with one trustee Hayden Henry saying earlier this year it was about Matapihi's cultural relationship to an ancient path which the council said it owned. Trustees from another block took issue with the forced removal of six avocado trees in the path of the pipeline.
A declaratory High Court judgment was sought by the council, resulting in Justice Christian Whata ruling in favour of the council, saying he was satisfied that the strip was intended as a public road.
The sub-marine crossing of Tauranga Harbour was also the least favoured option for Maori who would have preferred the less risky and culturally preferred solution of bridging the pipeline over the harbour.....
www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11774912
Construction of this section of the Southern Pipeline to the edge of Rangataua Bay stalled last year when trustees from an adjoining Maori land trust locked the orchard access gates, preventing council contractors from accessing the construction corridor along what the council said was an unformed legal [paper] road.
It followed years of opposition from some residents of the largely Maori-owned peninsula to the pipeline being laid through the middle of their lands because of cultural sensitivities surrounding human waste.
Maori trustees challenged the paper road, with one trustee Hayden Henry saying earlier this year it was about Matapihi's cultural relationship to an ancient path which the council said it owned. Trustees from another block took issue with the forced removal of six avocado trees in the path of the pipeline.
A declaratory High Court judgment was sought by the council, resulting in Justice Christian Whata ruling in favour of the council, saying he was satisfied that the strip was intended as a public road.
The sub-marine crossing of Tauranga Harbour was also the least favoured option for Maori who would have preferred the less risky and culturally preferred solution of bridging the pipeline over the harbour.....
www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11774912