Iwi urges co-operation to avoid Manawatū Gorge replacement road mistakes

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Members of one of Aotearoa's largest iwi want a close working relationship with those building the proposed new Manawatū-Hawke's Bay highway and other iwi to ensure cultural matters are taken into account.

The iwi, Ngāti Kahungunu, is especially keen to avoid a repeat of a situation near Dannevirke where a scared part of a manga, or creek, was destroyed in a roading project.

Commissioners are two days into three weeks' of hearings in Palmerston North into Te Ahu a Tūranga, the proposed Manawatū Gorge replacement highway.

State Highway 3 through the gorge, connecting Manawatū and Hawke's Bay, has been closed since April 2017 due to landslips.

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Ngātii Kahungunu ki Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua Trust chairman Hayden Hape is calling for co-operation over the Manawatū Gorge replacement road.

The New Zealand Transport Agency wants to replace it with a highway across the Ruahine Range to the north.

Tuesday started with Ngāti Kahungunu representatives talking about how construction could affect culturally significant sites.

The iwi is one of the country's most populous, with its rohe extending down the east coast of the North Island, from the Wharerata Range near Gisborne to southern Wairarapa.

Hayden Hape, the chairman of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua Trust, said the iwi area had suffered a loss of industry in the past 20 years, with meatworks, Godfrey Hirst and, most recently, RCR Energy Dannevirke closing.

People have moved overseas as a result, he said.

Highway construction was also a chance to celebrate the rich history in the area.

The road through the Manawatū Gorge has been closed because of landslips since April 2017.

'It's not just about smashing a road through a hill,' he said.

'There is a chance to educate people about our past history and history we make for the next 100 years.'

Ngāti Kahungunu wanted to engage with all iwi and hapū with an interest in the project, as it would shape how history was told, he said.

Knowing what everyone held as taonga would also help avoid mistakes.

Hape used the improvement of SH2 near Dannevirke as an example of one of those mistakes, saying a manga there used by whānau to bless newborns and other cultural activities were destroyed in the process.

'Working together can avoid these sorts of mistakes.'

The suggested corridor for the new highway looks set to affect the Ballantrae hill country research station, which is home to one of the country's longest-running fertiliser trials.

Hape said Ngātii Kahungunu ki Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua had first right of refusal over the land as part of its Treaty of Waitangi settlement claim.

Meetings about how the road would affect that were continuing, he said.

Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua representative Morry Black said he wanted discussion between all groups with an interest in the area before ideas like pull-off areas near culturally or historically significant sites were created.

Different iwi and hapū could both find a site significant, but for different reasons.

Taking workers through the area to point out culturally significant sites would be a good idea before work began, he said.