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Taxpayers will pay up to $20,000 more to fix one of New Zealand's most treacherous stretches of road because of Maori concerns that the land is home to ancient spirits.
The Meremere highway extension was held up when Waikato Maori protested that it was encroaching on the home of their taniwha, or spiritual guardians.
The money will be spent to create a steeper rocky embankment on the edge of the road instead of a gentle sloping embankment.
The extra construction will mean less of the project will encroach on what local Maori believe to be the taniwha's lair.
But Rima Herbert of Ngati Naho is making no apologies for standing in the way of progress.
"I'm a taxpayer just like anyone else and it's just one of those things that had to be got on top of and quickly," Herbert says.
Maori mythology says the three taniwha - Karutahi, Waiwai, and Te Iaroa - have a reputation for good deeds but can turn nasty if they are not respected.
Declaring land wahi tapu, or sacred, for mythological and historical reasons also dented the plans of four Welcome Bay landowners near Tauranga in November.
They wanted to build, subdivide and harvest their forests on the small mountain of Kopukairoa but will now have to get the permission of local iwi.
The property owners say it is unjustified and that no one had to provide substantial evidence of historic sites on their mountain.
Meanwhile Transit New Zealand says motorists can now expect the $75 million highway to be finished on time in 2006.
