Murupara Development

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 6, 12 December 1947, Page 5

Murupara Development

Town Planning Survey Given High Priority

It is reliably reported that a town planning survey in the Murupara area has been accorded extreme urgency and will start in about a month’s time, as one of the preliminary steps in the Government’s plans for developing the forest reserves in the Kaingaroa area. It is understood sites for a pulp mill and new post office have been tentatively selected, and Government officers are looking for suitable sites for administrative offices.

The pulp mill will be situated handy to Murupara township, about a mile along the Kopuriki Road on a large, flat area. It will be a 13frame mill and will handle large quantities of pine timber from the Kaingaroa forest. The problem of dumping the effluent from the pulp mill still remains, and the present scheme envisages making some use of the Rangitaiki River. However, it is feared that the effluent will have a detrimental effect on the water for a number of farmers lower down who draw supplies from the river. ' The new post office will be, as far as practicable, in the centre of the new housing and mill area, not far from the present post office. Edgecumbe Development Linked so closely with the Murupara mill project as to form part of the one plan is the scheme to expand Edgecumbe. It is understood the Government is bringing to a close at present negotiations with a private landowner there for the acquisition of about 30 acres, on which it is intended to build a State housing settlement. The most likely development to take place in the near future is the construction of a large stopbank between Edgecumbe township and the Rangitaiki River, as protection against flooding. To make this effective, the town, which is at present very widespread, will be built around a small area, and where necessary some existing buildings will be moved. The housing units will be located about a mile from the present centre of the village. Murupara will be a railhead extending from Edgecumbe. As the route will be through forest reserves, the trains will be drawn by either diesel or electric locomotives. Surveys on the railway are being carried out from Edgecumbe at present. Meanwhile, at Kaingaroa, facilities to handle the timber are being augmented. A new mill was put into operation recently, and others are under construction.