<B>By Nicholas RAINER</B>

Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that Rama Sithanen would embrace renewable energies and, by extension, the concept of shaping Mauritius into a sustainable island with such missionary zeal. Admittedly, a continued over-reliance on fossil fuels would be financially crippling; yet the scope of his endorsement of all things renewable was impressive. He mentioned the word ?green? several times in the opening stages of his speech before letting loose on page 19. In a measured cadence, the Finance minister read out a budget speech that will go down in history. Polluters will pay, solar water-heaters will be subsidized and the planet will be saved.

Even if the government accomplishes only a fraction of what it has promised, the 2008-2009 budget still provides a welcome break from the grimly utilitarian ones we were used to. Still, it would be a pity not to capitalize on the momentum created by Joel de Rosnay and so enthusiastically espoused by the Labour government.

Furthermore, we dispose of the invaluable technical expertise of La Réunion, which is already leaps and bounds ahead of "la métropole" in terms of renewable energies (they constitute 37% of its energy use against 12.1% in France proper). In Claudia Wiedey, the head of the European Commission delegation, we have an indefatigable supporter of the sustainable island concept.

Yet one pitfall we must avoid at all costs is a weak Utility Regulatory Authority. The viability of the renewable energy sector hinges largely on the regulator?s ability to fix electricity prices independently of lobbies and the like. Unfortunately, there is undeniably a tendency in Mauritius to set up agencies that are independent only in name. For all the rest, they quietly kowtow to the government line. Indeed, the word "independent" is used extremely lightly, much in the same way despotic regimes describe themselves as "democratic republics". That?s to say, the term is not so much a figleaf as a screamingly inappropriate affront to decency.

The Energy Policy and Action Plan commissioned by the European Commission and United Nations Development Programme says as much: "The experience of EU members states, all 25 of whom have set up an energy regulatory authority in recent years, can provide useful insight to Mauritius. A common error by some EU governments was to establish ineffective regulatory authorities with weak powers, low independence and inadequate resources."

It thus recommends that "unlike other parastatal organizations", the director of regulatory authority should not be forced to resign when a new government is elected; should not "recruited from, nor return to the regulated industry"; and should be able to "grant separate licences for generation, transportation and supply of electricity". Despite Rama Sithanen?s newfound love for renewable energies, it remains to be seen just how willing his colleagues are to take the budget to the next level. This government may have come up with some audacious and even, dare I say, visionary policies, yet one thing it will certainly not be remembered for is its willingness to grant autonomy and independence to parastatal organizations.

On paper, the revolution has begun. The true test though will be for government to relinquish an iota of that which it cherishes most: power.