A purchase of land by the Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust and associated entities will see two rivers and several wāhi tapu returned to iwi ownership.
8,500 hectares of Crown-owned land in the central North Island was purchased from the Department of Corrections for $20 million.
Corrections Minister Peseta Sam-Lotu-Iiga said in a statement. The land includes the Tongariro-Rangipo Corrections Facility and the Hautu prison farm near Turangi. Under the terms of the sale, Corrections will retain the prison facilities lease land including about 700ha for a training farm, from the Trust.
The Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust owns 11.25 percent of CNI Iwi Holdings, which holds 90 percent by value of the 176,000 hectares of Crown forest land in the central North Island.