<B>By Raj JUGERNAUTH</B>

When he took office as minister for Public transport ? new broom sweeps clean! ? Rashid Beebeejaun convened a meeting, some sort of brainstorming session to decide between the Light Rail System (LRT) and the bus way.

During that meeting held at Monaco Hotel in Quatre-Bornes, Jayen Chellen of the ACIM (NGO partly financed by governement) took the floor and made a surprising statement. He said that the way different governments have been handling the ?métro léger? affair looks bizarre. One cannot help but conclude that there is a question of commission ? kickback - behind the adoption of this alternative mode of public transport.

None of the high government officials present in the hall, not even the minister, dared to give him the lie.

His statement was echoed by the press the following day. This statement of Jayen Chellen comes back to our mind concerning the saga of traffic lights, which would replace the round-about at Le Caudan.Rs 65 million of good tax-payers? money would be paid to Sobany and Sons and AJ Maurel for these lights which, according to expert advice, would not alleviate the traffic jam in the region. Rs 7,5 million have already been paid to the French consultant BCEOM, which has clearly stated: ?It cannot be expected that the introduction of modern traffic signals on its own would improve dramatically the situation. More benefits would be expected during off-peak hours.?

Experts go on to add that the Caudan traffic lights ?? is a small measure, with the potential of slightly improving the situation in the very short term?.

A small measure, which will cost Mauritian taxpayers more than Rs 75 million to slightly improve the situation in the very short term. So all this money would be invested in some useless traffic lights at a time when government is drastically cutting back on expenditure. At a time when some of our roads are in desperate need of resurfacing.

It is rumored that the contract has already been awarded for the setting up of traffic lights. No one at the ministry wants to confirm. Would those at the ministry who are pressing forward for those traffic lights at Le Caudan refund taxpayers when these lights would prove to be nothing but a white elephant?