Whakatohea and the wider Opotiki community extended a warm welcome to the Opotiki Harbour contractors yesterday, with all keen to see the community's dreams become reality.

Business leaders, engineers and designers from leading construction company HEB Construction and engineering consultancy Tonkin +Taylor were welcomed by Whakatohea iwi with a powhiri at the Opotiki District Council.

HEB Construction was awarded the contract to design and build the new harbour infrastructure in 2017, which will help to unlock the aquaculture potential of the township.

The harbour project is the recipient of $79.4 million funding from the Government's New Zealand Upgrade programme and $20 million from Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Regional Infrastructure Fund.

Whakatohea's Dr Te Kahautu Maxwell says it's an auspicious day as everyone came together to begin the physical works on what had once been only a dream of the iwi.

Te Kahautu says his father had the vision of a deep-sea mussel farm as Whakatohea could no longer farm on the land as it had become a landless people through the cruelty of colonisation.

'His dream, that vision, has been realised.

'Today, in 2020, you are here with the objective to rebuild our Whakatohea nation and the wider Opotiki Community.”

HEB Construction operations manager Simon Gard says he's humbled by the welcome and his company is very excited about the project.

He says the company will operate in a socially conscious way and bring work to the people of Opotiki.
'We are working together towards a common goal; it is really important to employ local people and those relationships then last a long time.”

Simon presented a gift of a plaque made by HEB Construction staff to symbolise the kotahitanga (unity) between the people.

Mount Maunganui is engraved on the plaque, representing the company's base, along with a whale to symbolises unity and strength, and a waka to symbolise the journey all parties were taking to complete the monumental project.

Simon says he will also like to run a competition, maybe in the local schools, to design a sculpture to sit at the entrance of the harbour.

The gift and idea of a sculpture was well received by those in the audience, with many calling out 'ka pai”.

Tonkin + Taylor civil consultant Grant Pearce said it was a privilege to be working alongside the Opotiki council and Whakatohea on the harbour development and said it was the start of a new prosperous era for Opotiki.

Mayor Lyn Riesterer says the two companies felt like 'part of the family”.

She says the powhiri marks the start of a new future for the district and the wider Eastern Bay.

The mussel farm was already operating and more lines were added each season and the Provincial Growth Fund had funded almost $20 million towards the processing factory, which was already being built in the town.

The last piece of the puzzle was the harbour entrance – twin seawalls to create a year-round navigable entryway to the town.

It will allow for boats from the Whakatohea mussel farm to unload at Opotiki for transport to the processing factory.

'For me, this marks a significant milestone because it shows that our long-term planning and the partnership forged with Whakatohea more than 20 years ago to boost wellbeing in our rohe is becoming a reality,” she says.

'It feels like each week we are celebrating a new milestone. Recently, we had karakia on one of the access roads where enabling works have already started.

'Today's powhiri for our contractors marks the point at which the team has come together, put on their high viz and safety boots and got down to the brass tacks of building our harbour entrance.

'The benefits we have been working towards for all these years start now and grow each month. Our contractors have committed to employing locally, our rangatahi have new job and training opportunities, and our local businesses and retailers will feel the flow-on effects as well.

'This is going to improve lives in the district and bring jobs to the community,” she says.

'This will be the first harbour constructed in New Zealand for more than 100 years.”
Lyn says for so long it had felt like the team was climbing up a mountain with one step forward and two steps back, however, they are now close to the summit.

She requests the two companies pay a living wage to those they hire as part of the project.

Guests including representatives from Whakatohea iwi, the Opotiki District Council, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Ministry of Social Development attended to show their support.