KEY POINTS:
Much of the Arawa tribe in the Bay of Plenty is in for an improved $100 million Treaty deal after its original settlement was stalled last year.
Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa, which represents 11 of the iwi's subtribes, wouldn't confirm details of the new deed of settlement
last night.
But general manager Rawiri Te Whare said it was a "massive deal", which members believed was a major "enhancement" on the old settlement.
The deal will be signed today.
The Government asked the 11 hapu - which represent 24,000 people - to set aside the deal allocating them just under a third of the 170,000ha Kaingaroa Forest while other tribes with claims on the land concluded their own negotiations. Those other claimants are part of the Central North Island Iwi (CNI) collective.
The Waitangi Tribunal had criticised the earlier settlement process for undermining the CNI's cross-claims.
The Herald understands the new deal will be fast-tracked in Parliament within a month and includes:
* $38.6 million in cash.
* $42 million in accumulated crown forestry rentals from Kaingaroa.
* An agreed annual rental dividend.
* Four undeveloped geothermal wells worth $5 million.
* Ownership of five school sites in and around Rotorua, to be leased back to the Ministry of Education.
* A 68ha dairy farm.
* The option to buy 1450ha of crown forestry in the Mamaku Ranges.
But whereas under the old deal, Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa was to pay for the wells and the school land, it will now receive those as a concession from the Government for delay.
And what part of the Kaingaroa Forest the 11 hapu will be given will be worked out in a forum involving all the parties, where Te Arawa's claims will be assessed against those from CNI iwi such as Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Whakaue, Ngati Rangitihi, Ngati Whare and others.
Effectively that brings Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa into the CNI, representing more than 100,000 Maori, making the collective a powerful Maori business player as it will control all the forestry land in a holding company for 35 years.
The 170,000ha will then revert back to individual iwi.
CNI spokesman Tamati Kruger said a formula to divide $248 million in accumulated rentals from forest licences, which is held in trust for Maori until final settlement, had been worked out and was "highly likely" to be accepted by the collective within the next few weeks.
But working out how to divide the land would be more challenging because Te Arawa's $42 million in accumulated rentals implied it already owned a corresponding portion of the land, Mr Kruger said.
"Potentially, the [land and rental] models need to align with each other. If there is a big variance between what you claim you own with the percentage [of accumulated rentals] you're getting, it will have an impact on governance."
However, Wellington sources close to the deal said that without Te Arawa agreeing last August to delay its settlement, the wider $500 million Treelords settlement covering the whole Kaingaroa Forest would not have been possible.