Russian billionaire's request to take water from local stream leaves sour taste
Friday, 28 July 2017
Guests paying thousands to stay at a private luxury lodge in Northland are oblivious to the state of the ramshackle town it is nestled in when they arrive by helicopter.
They do not see the sheds with smashed windows that some locals call a home, the decrepit buses and written off cars piled in paddocks and barefoot locals picking vegetables from muddy creeks to feed their family.
The ultra wealthy guests of Russian businessman Alexander Abramov's $50 million mansion in Helena Bay, a small coastal town 40 kilometres north of Whangarei, boasts an Italian restaurant, European-styled living quarters finished with an indoor spa and a 25-metre heated swimming pool.
It could not be more foreign to the lifestyle of neighbours who live in one of New Zealand's poorest areas.
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But the locals do not mind too much because, as one says, the Russian billionaire that built the lodge has 'waved money around' the struggling Whangaruru district. Solving their woes like fairy dust.
But his recent request to the local council seeking permission to irrigate up to 60,000 litres of water a day from the local stream to keep his gardens green in summer bypassed iwi, and has upset some neighbours who gather food from the stream.
GAINING SUPPORT
It appears that Abramov was well advised where to spend his cash. Before, during and after the six year build from 2010 to 2016, his application to build New Zealand's wealthiest residential property ticked every good will box available.
Grant private beach access to the local Ngatiwai iwi? Tick. Plant native trees, wetlands and set up an on-site farm? Tick. Employ 130 local people straight after the 2008 global financial crisis and graduate eight carpentry apprentices? Double tick.
His generosity included lending construction machinery and project managers to clean up the iwi's Mokau Marae meeting house after it burnt down in 2013.
Abramov's New Zealand spokesman Chris Seel says the Abramov family was 100 per cent committed to supporting the community and boosting Northland's tourism sector.
'We are a bigger newcomer than anyone else has been in the past, you have got to make a real effort to meet people, to explain what you want to do, to build a level of trust. We made a real effort to engage the local community.'
Seel rejected any suggestion that Abramov had tried to buy the community's affection.
Abramov's property had invested in the community ten-fold what he says it would in his Overseas Investment Office submission, he says.
A 'SLAP IN THE FACE'
Whangaruru resident Huhana Lyndon says the 'frivolous nature' of Abramov's request to take 60,000 litres of water to keep his imported lawn green 'raised a heckle straight away'.
Seel says he regretted not notifying iwi of the request and one of his colleagues had since apologised. Seel would not say whether the apology admitted a misunderstanding of Maori beliefs.
He says he and Abramov took extreme caution to consult the iwi 'at every corner' of the project.
But Ngatiwai Trust Board chairman Hadyn Edmonds says he is comfortable with Abramov irrigating water from the stream.
'You will always have different points of view depending on what people do or do not know.'
But the slip up has left a bad taste in the mouths of some locals.
Lyndon says locals paid almost $600 to have water delivered by truck when their tanks turned dry every summer.
No one is allowed to take water from the stream without local council approval. Even with approval, most did not have the expensive pumping tools to do so, she says.
'[Approval] should not be based on who has the most money to get to the front of the line.'
Seel defended the irrigation saying that water was to be taken from the stream only metres from the ocean and that it was prone to flooding.
He says keeping grass green was not a petty reason.
'What is the purpose of water? It is to create life. We are growing grass, I do not think that is frivolous at all.'
Another resident, Johnny Seve believes the council approved it because the size of Abramov's cheque book gave him a type of special privilege.
Seve says the request and its approval was a 'slap in the face' to Maori whose culture deemed water sacred.
Lyndon says Abramov's irrigation request was the community's first run in with him and it took most by surprise.
She says it had changed the mood towards him and many were worried about what he might ask for next.
'Will this become a big brother relationship? The have and the have nots?'
Lyndon believes a divide has been created in the community between the 50 or so farmers, landscapers and wait staff who work at the lodge, and those who don't.
THE MODEL CITIZEN?
Despite the recent rustle over water, Helena Bay cafe and gallery owner Peter Brown spoke fondly of the easy-going Abramov.
If you know him well enough, he greets with a bear hug. His former British Special Air Services bodyguard looks on, but does not usually flinch.
Abramov and his wife bought a kauri coffee table from Brown once.
The wealthy guests are prone to the odd art purchase too. One New York property developer staying at the lodge just bought a $21,000 corrugated iron sculpture of a moa. Brown says it was one of his biggest sales in 20 years of business.
According to Forbes' rich list, Abramov made his US$4.5 billion fortune exporting metal out of Siberia and buying steel companies amidst the 1998 financial crisis.
Brown says Abramovspent his time in Helena Bay deep sea fishing and playing golf at the spectacular cliffside Kauri Cliffs course.
He believes he was the ideal offshore investor who had earned his right to citizenship, unlike United States business mogul Peter Thiel who was controversially granted New Zealand citizenship after spending only 12 days here.
'It has been very positive for the district as far as our local oligarch goes.
'I think they [foreign investors] need to add value … and he sure as hell has done that.'
Seel says Abramov and his family loved New Zealand but he would not comment on whether he was considering becoming a citizen.
But he agreed that Abramov's contribution to the local economy was 'enormous'.
He says the lodge was the 'golden goose' that would continue to benefit the community by employing locals and bringing in rich tourists willing to spend upwards of $50,000 a visit.
'We can go away with a clear conscious knowing that we have really delivered substantially to the whole community.
'I think it is just overwhelmingly obvious that we have done that.'
But Seve, who eats the watercress he picks from the muddy creek an arm's length from Abramov's automatic gates, was not convinced.
'Life is not fair… money talks. It is no different when someone comes in and just waves money around.
'We are not as open in this country about people who can come in here and buy their way. It is probably our worst kept secret.'
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