French Polynesia's vice-president Teva Rohfritsch has visited a range of sites in New Zealand developed by Māori investors as negotiations continue to build the South Pacific's biggest tourism project.
Mr Rohfritsch met the head of the Kaitiaki Tagaloa consortium Tukoroirangi Morgan who in August signed a $US700 million deal to construct The Tahitian Village project.
French Polynesia's vice president Teva Rohfritsch is received by Maori at the invitation of former NZ politician Tukoroirangi Morgan Photo: supplied
The protocol signed by Mr Morgan allows for a 200-day period to finalise the contract to build part of the resort complex.
Mr Rohfritsch toured sites south of Auckland at Mr Morgan's invitation.
The Tahitian Village project includes three-to five-star hotels and apartment complexes, totalling more than 1500 units.
About 2,500 people are expected to be employed for the construction phase.
The consortium includes Kaitiaki Property, Iwi International and Samoa's Grey Group, which already owns and runs five high-end hotels in Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora.
The Tahitian Village is a downscaled successor project to the $US3 billion Mahana Beach project which was abandoned after facing funding problems.