Tribe seeks hotels as part of land claim

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 7

Tribe seeks hotels as part of land claim

By

JANE DUNBAR

The Tourist Hotel Corporation’s South Island hotels could be a creative way of settling part of the Ngai Tahu land claim, says the chairman of the Ngai Tahu Maori Trust Board, Mr Tipene O’Regan.

“We think the Government should be creative in using its assets for partial settlement of the land claim,” said Mr O’Regan. The validity of the claim has not yet been decided by the Waitangi Tribunal, and no recommendations for remedies have been made.

Mr O’Regan said the board and its foreign investment partner were considering a bid for the T.H.C. hotels.

The tribe had registered its interest in the T.H.C. hotels last February, said Mr O’Regan. Ngai Tahu had for some time had an offshore investment partner

with interests in other sectors of the economy.

The big problem with T.H.C. was that it needed a substantial investment of capital if the operation was to be on its feet in the twenty-first century, said Mr O’Regan. “It’s a very badly rundown asset — that’s why the Government wants to get rid of it.”

The scale of the investment required could mean that at the end of its investigations Ngai Tahu would withdraw its bid.

The Minister of Stateowned Enterprises, Mr Rodger, announced last week that the Government intended to proceed with the sale of T.H.C.’s 14 hotels, with a paper value of $22 million.

Mr O’Regan said he was aware of others who had expressed an interest in the corporation, but as far as he knew there were no serious prospect of a totally New Zealandowned interest.