<B>By Raj JUGERNAUTH</B>

The cable car project of the Seetarams is a laudable project. Coastal tourism is now almost saturated. Those who pioneered eco tourism have already shown that people who thought that they were fools to invest in that sector could not see further than their noses.

We do not yet know if the the Cable Car (téléférique) project of the Seetarams and its heavy investment will meet with the same success as the other eco tourist projects.

The cable car is not a stand alone project. It is linked with the construction of a tourist village on a plot of land belonging to the Seetarams in the region. It also appears that this cable car is a must if a tourist village is to thrive in that particular region.

Developing eco tourism is a laudable initiative and Mauritius has gone a long way in this direction. Investors in green tourism have always been our traditional investors. The lease and facilities granted to the Seetarams may have been done in line with the Labour Party’s declared policy of economic democratization.

Resistance to the Seetarams’ project might be fuelled in the days to come by those traditional investors in the tourism sector and the authorities concerned should be very careful to distinguish between propaganda and facts.

But so far, facts are speaking against the Seetarams. Unfortunately for an eco tourism project.

How can such a project be carried out without an Environment Impact Assessment? Unbelievable.

Albizia Vaughanii is a tree endemic to Mauritius and we have only 14 known specimens of this tree on the whole planet, all of them growing in Mauritius.

In the context of the project one of these tree has been pruned. The CEB who carried out the pruning says that it was done for another reason.

But the fact is that the pruned tree is in the way of the cable car project and is the only tree which bears flowers amongst the 14 specimens. What a shame for eco tourist promoters! This tree might die if no surgery treatent is applied immediately. So far neither the Seetarams nor the CEB have made a move in that direction.

The cable car project may be taking the same direction as the motorway through the endemic forest of Ferney.

But the way this project was stopped was sweet music to our ears.

We will remember that the Prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, made a personal visit to the site and called for the project to be stopped despite the fact that his minister responsible for this motorway was driving in another direction. By doing this, Navin Ramgoolam not only respected an electoral promise, but he also showed that his governement was not a “cour du roi Pétaud” and that he had not only the authority, but also a deep respect for the environment and protection of bio diversity.

He is not that deaf after all. He should perhaps pay a visit to the site and see for himself the damage being done. And decide if the project should be stopped or rerouted.