Parihaka infrastructure revamp sets scene for growth
- Craig Ashworth
- May 2
- 3 min read
Parihaka is looking to welcome more whānau home after almost two years of infrastructure construction at the Taranaki village.
Roads, drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems have been replaced in a $28 million project nine years in the making.
There are also new electricity lines, lighting, internet fibre and fire hydrants.
Parihaka is famous for non-violent resistance to land confiscation before the Armed Constabulary invaded in 1881, when troops occupied the papakāinga, assaulted women and girls, and imprisoned the men without charge in the South Island.
Parihaka Papakāinga Trust co-chair Tuhi-Ao Bailey said for years many whānau had wanted to come home.
“We didn't have the infrastructure to support the housing, and we had issues with flooding.”
The village wanted to create jobs by hosting events and the necessary permits required better quality water, Bailey said.
“The water supply was on a gentleman's agreement with the farmers up the road using their spring.”
Dealing with visitors would be easier with new public amenities and walking trails including two new footbridges.
“We're trying to make it better for tourists, so they can see and understand more about Parihaka – but also steer them away from residents’ homes for a bit more privacy.”
Twenty million dollars came from the government’s Provincial Growth Fund and Regional Infrastructure Fund, reflecting Crown obligations to Parihaka under the 2019 reconciliation – Te Kawenata o Rongo.
As part of the reconciliation Parihaka received $9 million – and at Friday’s ceremony marking the competed infrastructure regional development minister Shane Jones said he had to to persuade his colleagues more help was due.
“It was no mean feat to convince cabinet ministers … to dedicate up to $20 million to a site where, as far as the bureaucracy was concerned, it was a done deal.”
But Jones said there were a few sites that all New Zealanders should know about – including Parihaka.
“These are places of prestige in terms of our history, places of priority in terms of the steps that our nation has taken.”
Māori development and associate housing minister Tama Potaka said the infrastructure was a first step.
He said the Government wanted to “work with communities such as Parihaka to create … not just the infrastructure but the housing that goes with it, so people can build homes and their lives around these communities in these papakāinga.”
Potaka said new rules would soon enable up to ten homes on Māori land blocks without resource consent, reducing papakāinga development costs.
More funding came from the region’s Toi Foundation and the Tindall Foundation.
Toi Foundation first funded Parihaka Papakāinga Trust 20 years ago with grants now totalling $5.5 million.
Toi’s deputy chair Wharehoka Wano, himself an uri of Parihaka, said the infrastructure build was “an act of restoration, partnership and future-building.”
“I challenge dignitaries and each of us here today to reflect on how we can do this more frequently.”
“Why can't we do it in real time, meaningful time for our people?”
Many contractors working at the pā are part of Ngā Waka Whiria, a consortium of Māori construction businesses.
Ngā Waka Whiria trustee Hone Tipene said joining forces meant smaller, whānau-based businesses could win larger jobs.
The Parihaka job was their first big project and two years working at the papakāinga had boosted the consortium’s capacity.
“We can build the roads, put the services in, the curb and channelling, the footpaths, the driveways, lay the pads, stand the frames up, put the roof on, the aluminium joinery, the painting and plastering, the scaffolding, and the carpets and drapes – and every single piece of that is touched by a Māori business.”
nā Craig Ashworth craig@tekorimako.co.nz
LDR is local body journalism hosted by Te Korimako o Taranaki and funded by Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa and Irirangi te Motu
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