Ceremony opens ‘transformational’ Ngāwhā industrial park

Around 300 people gathered for a dawn ceremony today at Ngāwhā for the opening of the first stage of a $48 million project to transform economic development in the Far North.

Ngawha Innovation & Enterprise Park is an award-winning community economic development initiative designed to create employment opportunities by tapping into the district’s rich natural assets.

The event was hosted by Far North District Council’s commercial arm, Far North Holdings Ltd (FNHL), and local hapū, Ngāti Rangi.

Flanked by Ngāti Rangi kaumātua Albert Tana and Reverend Wiremu Anania, Minister Willow-Jean Prime cut a ceremonial ribbon at a stand of puriri trees at the park entrance, beginning a hīkoi to the park buildings past students from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe.

FNHL CEO, Andy Nock, told the gathering the park will provide a platform to transform the Tai Tokerau economy from a low-value, low-skilled supplier of raw materials, to a producer of high-value ingredients and consumer products based on its sub-tropical climate.

“We are seeking to attract primary sector manufacturing and processing companies by offering incredibly competitive terms of occupation, workforce support and training and leverage the park’s unique lifestyle working environment.

“We’re also attracting businesses that have symbiotic relationships, which enable us to create our own circular economy and provide a place for innovation through collaboration and research and development to grow competitive local businesses.”

The park includes an education and training precinct to deliver skills needed by park businesses and the wider district. It also has a café, modern laboratory, co-working spaces, video conferencing and meeting rooms to encourage collaboration between businesses and to co-locate research and development activity. 

Ngāpuhi Asset Holding Company Limited (NAHC) has partnered FNHL to establish Kaikohe Berryfruit, one of the park’s anchor tenants. NAHC CEO Paul Knight said the park’s kaupapa and easily accessible location for Kaikohe’s workforce made it an obvious location for the iwi’s first significant expansion into horticulture. 

“I would hold-up Kaikohe Berryfruit as an exemplar of what a partnership between the commercial arms of an iwi and the council should look like.

“Kaikohe Berryfruit is already having a transformational impact upon our people and the region, which will only increase as Kaikohe Berryfruit expands its footprint to its full 27 hectares of available land.” 

Relationships with mana whenua have brought landscape, ecological, kaitiaki, architectural, historical, and design and creative skills to the project. This has included oversight of the site’s civil works, providing peer reviews of the physical development and carrying out all ecological work, including bat monitoring, drain muck out, eel collection and resettling, seed harvesting and landscape design.

A longer-term mutual partnership is being worked through with Ngāti Rangi hapū. Ngāti Rangi kaumātua Albert Tana has worked closely with FNHL since the park’s inception.

“I’m encouraged by the fact that we get to create work for our own in the district and this is an occasion we’ve all been waiting for. I think the park will be of benefit not only to Kaikohe, but for the whole of Tai Tokerau.

“Ngāti Rangi feels honoured to participate in the development of this park as, historically, the land where the buildings stand was the fruit bowl for our tūpuna.

“Our hapū are also a big part of the opening of the park and we’ve been fortunate to have the other partners come and stand beside us. We hope everyone will be happy with the outcome.”

Far North Kahika Moko Tepania says he was extremely proud of the partnerships that had brought about Ngawha Innovation & Enterprise Park.

“In 2018, the council had a vision and committed $5 million to buy a dairy farm just outside of Kaikohe to turn it into a ‘market-ready’ industrial park that would attract business and create jobs for the Far North.”

With $20 million in funding assistance from the Government, FNHL had turned that vision into a reality.

“This is going to be hugely transformational for our mid-north communities, and its benefits are going to be felt across all of Northland.

“We now have secure new jobs, industry training opportunities and the promise of much more to come!”

Images: 1/ Albert Tana and Kahika Moko Tepania unveil a plaque to mark the opening of the Mahinga building within the Innovation Centre. 2/ Minister Kelvin Davis speaks. 3/ Some of the 300 guests at he ceremony. 4/ Mātua Shane Jones speaks.