Many Mauritians are making meaningful suggestions about solving the daily traffic chaos in the capital. There is no need to hire expensive foreign consultants to advise on this issue as we have highly competent Mauritians that can help. The government is trying to cure the symptoms rather than tackling the disease.

As already pointed out by many, decentralisation is a must. Whose idea was it to reconstruct the Port Louis market on the same site? It would have been better to shift the market to a more spacious and easily accessible place outside Port Louis.

The market itself generates huge volumes of traffic every day (goods vehicles, sellers, buyers, etc). Most shoppers come from elsewhere. The building of the Hawkers? Palace in the heart of the capital is also inappropriate.

As regards the bus service, if some buses will terminate at Coromandel, won?t it be unfair for passengers to pay a second fare to Port Louis? Why not introduce daily or weekly bus passes that allow unlimited travel? Of course, this measure will only work if the whole public transport system is reorganised. The ?individual bus? system has had its day and we cannot expect an efficient service from it in this modern age. Successive fare hikes will not bring improvement if the structure itself is in a mess.

A congestion charge willseriously hit the poor section of the community and only benefit the upper classes of society who will find motoring easier and quicker, while poor car owners will be priced out of the road.

One wonders what those advisers at the ministry of Transport actually do, if the government has to resort to foreign consultants to do what they are paid to do. Why doesn?t the ministry hold a public forum and invite citizens to have their say, as is the case in most democracies where the public gives its views on national issues.

21st century Mauritians are highly educated, travel extensively abroad and witness efficient development around the world, which they compare to their own country. We have been taken for a ride for too long now. The government CAN make drastic changes. But is there a political will?

Mohammed Shaffick Hamuth MSc Public Policy and Management Univ of London