A haunting karanga accompanied visitors as they climbed Waipukurau’s highest point – Pukekaihau – to hear the annoucement of more than $40 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment destined for the district.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development, Fletcher Tabuteau, yesterday delivered the welcome news to visitors including National MP for Tukituki Lawrence Yule, Labour MP for Ikaroa-Rawhiti Meka Whaitiri, chairman of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Rex Graham, Tararua mayor Tracey Collis, Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and acting Napier mayor Faye White.
Atop the hill waited Central Hawke’s Bay mayor Alex Walker and her councillors, representatives of the mana whenua and wider community, and the CHB College kapa haka group, aptly named Pukekaihau.
Photo: CHB mayor Alex Walker is flanked by Rex Graham (left) chairman of HBRC and Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development. Photo / Warren Buckland 
For more on this and other great Hawke’s Bay stories go to hawkesbaytoday.co.nz Posted: 11 June 2019