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Promoters still confident despite obstacles
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Promoters still confident despite obstacles
The promoters of the Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS) in Le Morne may have to wait until 1st February to have an official reply from the government on its plans for the site. Even though one director of Mauritian Property Partnerships (MPP), Christopher Wilkins, appears confident that his project will go ahead, the minister of Arts and Culture, Mahen Gowressoo, cultivates uncertainties. Faced with protests from the leader of Verts Fraternels, Sylvio Michel, and some of his followers, the British promoters assert that the Mauritian expectations are compatible with the IRS project.
The promoters have had a hard time since they decided to build 65 villas, 35 suites and a golf course around the Morne mountain. As the site was expected to be on the Unesco World Heritage list, they have agreed to make necessary changes to their project to make sure it does not impede the government’s application to Unesco. As a result, they accepted to give up the project of a golf course and to move16 of their planned villas. They agreed with the government that no development would be done in the core zone but only in the buffer zone. Moreover, the project also includes the setting-up of a museum and handicraft village as reminders of the authenticity of the site.
They may have thought the problems were over… until the government suddenly announced a few weeks ago that it intended to take back some land that was on lease. Even though the promoters might not have understood the objective of such a decision, they made it clear that it would not hinder their IRS project since the development planned concerned private land. Moreover, the land on lease was to be reforested.
But along came the Verts Fraternels, protesting that the IRS project could reduce the chances of the site being included on the Unesco World Heritage list. Despite the MPP’s reassurances that it had no intention of building anything in the core zone and was in favour of the site being on the Unesco list, the Verts Fraternels turned a deaf ear.
Social programme for the village</B>
As for the village itself, the councillors are asking for more details about the project. The MPP plans to implement a social programme to improve the lives of the inhabitants of Le Morne but no details are available yet. It appears, however, obvious that more jobs would be created for people around if the project were to become reality. After a meeting with village councillors, Christopher Wilkins asserted that the latter were “fully satisfied with this meeting”.
The MPP still wants to start its project on 1st April. Those who believe that Le Morne is a “sanctuary, a place of remembrance which is of interest for the whole African diaspora” may well continue to do everything possible to put a spoke in the promoters’ wheel. But the promoters have already made it clear that they would make sure their own rights are respected in any case!
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