RIF grants fund completion of marae projects

RIF grants fund completion of marae projects

Grants from the Regional Infrastructure Fund will support two marae to strengthen their ability to serve as community hubs and offer refuge in times of emergency, Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka say. A $4 million grant will go to Mataura Marae in the Southland town of Mataura. A $150,000 grant will also be provided from the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) to Takitimu Marae in Wairoa. The grant for Mataura Marae will enable the complex to be completed, building on its longstanding service to whānau and the wider community, Mr Patterson says. “Completing the marae will enhance its role as a focal point for strengthening cultural identity and connection for whānau Māori, while serving and supporting the whole community and extending its contribution to the wider eastern Southland area.” The project will involve completion of the wharekai (dining hall) and ablution facilities, along with accessibility improvements, structural strengthening, drainage and parking upgrades. Once completed, it will provide a safe, fit-for-purpose facility that can support and expand its existing role in health services, social programmes, community events and local service delivery. It will also strengthen the resilience of the flood-prone area, acting as a key piece of infrastructure during an emergency. “This project helps realise the vision of the Mataura and Districts Marae Charitable Trust, with work on the marae project beginning in the 1980s,” Mr Potaka says. “The grant will bring 40 years of public, philanthropic and community investment and generations of whānau commitment and voluntary effort to fruition.” The $150,000 grant to the Takitimu Marae Trust in Wairoa will be used to remediate damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Both the wharenui (meeting house) and wharekai at Takitimu Marae were flooded during the cyclone. “This grant will restore the long-term resilience of the wharenui, protecting significant cultural heritage and taonga tuku iho (treasured historic items), and support the safe, healthy use of the building by whānau and the wider community,” Mr Potaka says. The Takitimu Marae wharenui is a significant local cultural landmark, having been built as a memorial to Sir James Carroll, one of New Zealand's most influential Māori political leaders and a son of Wairoa. “I’m thrilled that the mana of this historic marae building will be restored and whānau can safely enjoy their ancestral houses again.”