The body handling the Treaty settlement money for Te Atiawa people in Wellington has recorded a drop in its investment property value over three years, from $21.6 million to just below $16 million.
Te Atiawa runanga offices. Photo: RNZ / Gareth Thomas
Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust said it would be a couple of years before it stopped losing money.
When Atiawa Maori signed with the Crown in 2009, the trust was charged with handling the $24.7 million package.
Since then, the entity's books have not looked pretty. For example, its Shelley Bay property - the former Defence Force base - has been losing $200,000 a year. It is now being leased to a private partner.
One of the reasons for the large decline in the value of investment property is a new valuation of the Petone College site.
The trust paid $3.8 million for the site and it is now worth only $330,000. Retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare is now building a new centre on that tribal land.
Looking ahead, Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust aims to break even by March 2016.
