It was a big, big day for Kaitāia with the opening of two major infrastructure projects for the town — the Te Hiku Sports Hub and the Kaitāia Town Square.

The rain started falling before the formal town square opening at 5.30am on Wednesday, June 5, but the raindrops were never going to dampen the community spirit and pride at having both projects completed and opened on the same day.

Both — the $11.5 million sports hub and the town square project that was the last of 51 projects for the $9.5m multi-award-winning Te Hiku o te Ika Revitalisation Open Spaces Project that has helped transform Kaitāia, Awanui and Ahipara with art and place-making developments — had hundreds attend the formal openings.

The previous Government put money into both projects and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones, who was in charge of the Provincial Growth Fund that provided some of the cash, was on hand to open both facilities.

The revitalisation project is co-funded by Kanoa, the Government’s Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit, and the $2.5 million from the Far North District Council, which secured funding through its long-term plan.

Project spokeswoman Andrea Panther said the whole project, which took three and a half years to complete, had helped transform the town, with the town square project giving Kaitāia a town centre it could be proud of.

The cultural waka sculpture, the final piece of the town square project by artists BJ Natanahira and Nathan Hull, went in last week

Panther said she was “beyond proud” that the town square was finally delivered and she would take a little while to reflect on the success the team had achieved, before looking for another job, as her work on the project is now over.

“It’s the end of three and a half years of hard work from so many people to get this to this stage today. But it’s work that has shown just what can be achieved when a community works together to make things happen,” she said.

“Both [facilities] are for the whole community, they were community projects and are great examples of what can happen when we all work together regardless of your political persuasion.”

That was further illustrated by Northland-based MPs Shane Jones (NZ First). Willow-Jean Prime (Labour), Hūhana Lyndon (Greens) and Grant McCallum (National) attending the openings to support the community projects.

Jones said a total of $7.66m in grant funding from the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund – Infrastructure Reference Group supported the FNDC to fund the works. The project has generated 200 part-time and fulltime jobs over the four years of redevelopment.

Te Hiku Sports Hub was supported by $3.6m in grants from the Provincial Growth Fund to build an indoor aquatic and fitness centre.

“This hub has been years in the making. Funding was approved by ministers back in 2018. Despite facing setbacks from Covid-19, weather events and road closures, I am very pleased to see the project completed,” Jones said.

“Both the sports hub and the revitalisation project are a step forward in reviving public spaces here and show great promise for what regional communities can accomplish when backed by the Government.”

Te Hiku Sports Hub project manager Mark Osborne paid tribute to the many people who had supported the project, from an initial idea about 28 years ago, to the new hub committee who got the project delivered.

“It’s been a long, long time coming. The first crack at getting something like this was about 28 years ago, but that didn’t get off the ground. This particular crack has taken 13-14 years to get to this stage,” Osborne said.

But, he said, it’s not the end and more will be done at the site to improve it further.

Osborne said everybody would benefit from the sports hub, which is a community facility for all.

The new facility would be drug and alcohol free, he said.

“This project will really have many positive benefits for the health and wellbeing of the local community and will have a massive impact here.”

He said the sports complex was already proving a big asset because it was recently valued at $20 million: “Not a bad return for an $11.5m investment.”

The hub would be a tremendous asset for the community with a variety of sporting codes set to use it, including rugby, league, football, netball and hockey.

Osborne said it was exciting and a relief to get the project to this stage, despite the challenges it faced, including the soaring costs of materials.

Far North District Mayor Moko Tepania said the new facilities were something Kaitāia, and the wider area, could be proud of.

Tepania said the “gold standard” facilities were a testament to all the mahi put in by many people over the years. It would improve the holistic wellbeing of people.

The mayor also took the opportunity to remind the MPs present that the Far North needed funding to repair its roads and for Kaitāia Airport.

Kaumatua Haami Piripi (Te Rarawa) said the facilities were wonderful taonga for the whole community to enjoy.

Piripi said the sports hub still needed a name and kōrero would be held soon to decide an appropriate name.

Sport Hub Trust chairman Mike Mitcalfe said the opening was the point where “we are celebrating us”. “We are celebrating the huge amount of energy, putea, community mahi and the spirit of co-operation”.

“We were given a mandate to make things better and there are so many people who have contributed to making this the best … This was not a case of too many cooks spoil the broth, rather it was many hands on the plough working together.”