Sinking BOP marae to be relocated

A sinking Bay of Plenty marae will be moved to higher ground in a land-swap deal between Contact Energy and a farm a kilometre away.

Ohaaki Marae, on the Waikato River between Rotorua and Taupo, was shifted to its current site from Orakei Korako in the early 1900s because of rising river levels.

But the marae has been slowly sinking into the ground for 30 years, largely because of geothermal drawoff from the Ohaaki geothermal powerstation, built in the 1980s, The Dominion Post reported.

It sat 150 centimetres above river level and the ground was sinking about 17cm a year.

Contact Energy said the ground, where it owns the power station on land leased from Ngati Tahu, could drop as much as eight metres before the geothermal resource was used up.

The company would pay neighbouring farmer Greg Schumacher between $600,000 and $800,000 as part of the land-swap deal and move the marae to a six-hectare site on his property.

The date for the relocation had not been decided.

Discussions between Ngati Tahu and Contact had been ongoing for 12 years, tribe trustee Aroha Campbell said.

- NZPA