A Board of Inquiry has given consent for changes to the Hamilton city district plan to allow Tainui Group Holdings to build a large freight, commercial and residential development at Ruakura on the outskirts of the city.
The $3 billion project is being developed by the commercial arm of Waikato-Tainui on land given to the iwi as part of its 1995 Raupatu settlement with the Crown.
Over the next 50 years, Tainui Group Holdings wants to open an inland freight port taking advantage of the site's proximity to the planned Waikato Expressway and existing railway lines linking the Ports of Tauranga and Auckland.
Other stages of the project include medium density housing, a retail centre and commercial development.
Tainui Group Holdings says the development will create up to 11,000 jobs during the next 50 years bringing in nearly $5 billion of benefits to the economy.
It says the income will improve the social, economic and cultural well-being of tribal members.
Tainui Group Holdings chief executive Mike Pohio said it was happy with the outcome but there were still some aspects of the plan that it had to work through before final decision was made in September.