<B>By Pauline ETIENNE</B>

Almost two hours from Rose-Hill to Port-Louis. More than two hours from Curepipe to Port-Louis. This is what many drivers faced last Tuesday between 7am and 10am on the motorway. The road to the office is not easy every morning but there are times when this trip just becomes unbearable.

Those tempted to say that the main ones responsible for this were the pilgrims walking to and from Grand-Bassin must have witnessed that they were not many of them on the motorway at that time. In fact, what caused this major problem last Tuesday is the fact that both the infrastructure and the authorities are overwhelmed by the car flow on our roads. One minor incident is enough to cause major problems on the motorway to Port-Louis every morning.

One of the most recent cases when such a big traffic jam occurred was when a truck carrying sugar had an accident. This caused several hours of total congestion from Port-Louis. Some leaving work at 4 pm arrived home in Plaines-Wilhems around 7pm.

The Mauritius Employers? Federation recently issued their Business Trends Survey for 2008. Can you guess what is one of their biggest sources of anxiety for this year? Yes? Road congestion was mentioned as a main cause of worry for this year.

After the problem that occurred last Tuesday, economist Vishal Ragoobur from the MEF, said, "More planning in the future could help reduce the extent of the problem."

There we are. He has just touched at the main objective? planning!

A planning session from the police force could have anticipated the problem and reduced it. While there are so many police officers on the motorway every morning during peak hours, I was astonished that there were hardly any on our road last Tuesday. This would have allowed to better channel the flow of vehicles but would also have guaranteed more security to the pilgrims who were on the road at that time.

But, of course, the absence of the police force can?t be the sole explanation for such a huge phenomenon. It is quite reassuring that the ministry of Public infrastructure is said to have finally made up its mind about the methods to reduce the problem. The construction of the ring road is expected to start this year. The government is also said to have given the green light for the dream bridge. Only a "fine-tuning" is necessary, according to minister Rashid Beebeejaun. We just hope that this fine-tuning won?t take too long!