Financial constraints in public or semi-public institutions bring even more problems into an already too important budget deficit. This is probably why the government is so vehement when it criticises the way Business Parks of Mauritius Ltd (BPML) has managed its financial situation so far. The minister of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Etienne Sinatambou, speaks of ?scandalous mismanagement?. The government has set up a fact-finding committee which will have to situate the responsibilities for the financial failure of BPML.

BPML was set up in 2001 to develop ?business parks?, keeping in mind that this was among the first steps to make of Mauritius a cyber island. In such a context, the two cyber towers in Ebène were the first projects of the company. But it seems the company got its figures wrong and is now in a situation of over indebtedness.

So as to finance its projects, BPML took loans of up to Rs 1.3 billion with the Indian government, the State Bank of Mauritius, the Mauritius Commercial Bank as well as Sicom.

What makes the minister even angrier is that the former government had invested only Rs 330 while the overall investment was far more important. ?The former government explained that the Value Added Tax (VAT) had to be increased in order to be able to finance the development of the ICT sector (?). They were making a lot of speeches but when they had to invest in one project, they only injected Rs 330 million.?

BPML was not only responsible for the construction of the cyber towers but also for the setting up of what is known as the ?cyber city. It had to do the infrastructural work necessary for the emergence of a cyber city: roads, water, electricity, a communication network as well as the construction of a residential complex in collaboration with the Mauritius Housing Company.

So as to finance the infrastructural work, BPML had taken a loan of Rs 334 million of which Rs 35.1 million had to be paid back every year. But minister Sinatambou is of the opinion that the ?revenues were far from being enough to pay the debts back? ? the more so as he considers that the price of a plot of land had been underestimated. Likewise, he believes that the investment for the construction of houses and flats was too important. As a result, no one can afford to buy them.