<B>Customer care rewarded </B>

Public services have been in the limelight. The met office has won the Grand Winner Excellent Service Award 2004 meant to reward the public utility, offering the best customer service. The prize is Rs 100,000. The Met director, Soobaraj Sokappu insisted that the award is the result of his whole staff’s hard work. This department that gives weather forecasts for Mauritius and the surrounding islands becomes very important during the cyclonic season from November to March.

Three other institutions obtained Rs 50,000 prizes. The Subramania Bharati Eye Hospital in Moka, Belle Mare police station and the Passport and Immigration Office.

On the other hand, Mauritius Telecom has launched its online services MTc@re. It is thus possible to check and pay bills online and register for services. Soon it will be possible to buy equipment online. The new service is free of charge but customers have to go to an MT office to collect their user number and password.

<B>Parliament breaks for two-month holiday</B>

The National assembly will be on holiday as from 23rd November until 8th February 2005. While the government explains it by the fact that winter holidays were shortened, the opposition seizes the opportunity to denounce the government’s “lack of professionalism”. “This is the sign that the government is out of breath and prefers to avoid embarrassing questions from the opposition on burning issues.”

But the government seems to know where it’s going: the Parliament should be on until May when it will be dissolved and general elections should be held in September. The budget should be presented by April.

<B>Highway to affect endemic forest</B>

The project to build a highway in the South East is perceived by the ministries of Environment and Agriculture and the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation (MWF) as posing a serious threat to one of the island’s last endemic forests. The highway, which is intended to facilitate the journey from the airport to the hotels on the East coast, will cover 38 km and includes four bridges, a 600 m-long tunnel and an underpass. It will pass through an ecologically sensitive area between Ferney and Kewal Nagar.

A brief circulated by the ministry of Agriculture explains that the project will affect 76 000 km2 of forestland. The forest is home to half of the world’s kestrel population, six species of fern and eight species of trees listed on the Red List of the World Conservation Union. A monitoring committee has been set up by the prime minister to limit the highway’s impact on the environment.