Council calls in loan as houses go up on education land

By JON STOKES

The future of a proposed West Auckland Maori tertiary institution appears uncertain following a Waitakere District Council decision to seek full payment of a $2 million loan to the embattled Waipareira Trust urban iwi authority.

The council's finance and operational performance committee decided at a meeting on Monday to ask for the money back.

The loan, granted in 1998 at an interest rate of 8.5 per cent, helped the trust to buy 12.6ha next to Hoani Waititi Marae in West Coast Rd, Glen Eden, for the development of a Maori tertiary institution.

The trust, in partnership with the marae, has been unable to secure Government support for the proposal and has been forced to build housing on some of the land to help pay interest on the loan.

Waipareira Trust treasurer Ricky Houghton said it was disappointing the council had not allowed the loan to run for at least another year, a move it approved the year before.

Mr Houghton said a decision had to be made about the land. He estimated it was costing the trust about $380,000 a year in holding costs.

"We can't keep paying a holding cost on this land without an outcome," he said.

Options included using the land to develop low-cost housing for kaumatua and low-income whanau members.

"The reality is we need to get a return back on our investment for our stakeholders."

The council's decision to walk away from the loan followed a report that showed the trust had entered into a joint venture agreement with Royce Investments to develop 3.172ha of the land for residential housing.

That proposal breached the council's mortgage conditions and an agreement that the land would be used for a tertiary institution, forcing the council to reconsider its loan arrangement.

The land was tagged to offer tertiary education for students from the adjacent kohanga reo and kura kaupapa schools.

The land is said to be worth about $3.1 million.

Waipareira chief executive Reg Ratahi said the trust was talking with finance companies about repayment of the loan.

He blamed coverage in the Weekend Herald for forcing the council to call it in.

"The stuff you put in the paper about the loans etc, this is what we now have to go through."

Mr Ratahi said he was confident the loan would be repaid.