l'express du 09/03/2006
I would like to refer to the article of Mr Jean-Mée Desveaux in the “opinion” section of l’express dated the 22nd Feb. 2006, entitled “Les peupliers ne peuvent monter jusqu’au ciel”.
I appreciate with due respect the highlights recognized by Mr Jean-Mée Desveaux concerning the ceiling effects of tourism on the social and economical aspects of the country and its people. But what is shocking is the misinterpretation of the Prime Minister’s speech at the “assises du tourisme” to quote: “que ceux qui disposent des droits d’exploitation des sites les plus magnifiques du pays doivent aussi veiller au développement et à l’amélioration des régions ou ils opèrent”.
Mr Jean-Mée Desveaux argues that the Prime Minister obviously meant and referred to the 1 243 lessees of crown land obtained at a cheap rental price in the 1960’s. The Prime Minister’s statement cannot be interpreted to mean what Mr Jean-Mée Desveaux expanded further in his article, more specifically that these land obtained by beneficiaries should be taken back by the Government in 2020 so as to make way for investors in the hotel industry who need beach frontage, by simply expropriating them against a meager compensation fee of R20, 000. His audacity to suggest the expropriation of land from these people can lead me to think that this totalitarian dictatorship is not at all in keeping with the democratic state of Mauritius.
Furthermore, if this happenned, what is good for the goose should also be good for the gander. Why not also retrieve the thousands of acres given to the land barons by a simple signature of our ex-colonial masters or even bought ridiculously cheap by them. Surely these people who acquired land by paying peanuts did not reap monkeys but big fortune.
One does not have to climb a mountain to see what the PM meant , that is, those big hoteliers who had obtained concessionary prime land in Mauritius should allow the multiplier effect to work in the region and obviously contribute to improve the socio - economic lifestyle of people living in that environment.
The campement site tax which he interprets as a penalization because these owners acquired leased land at a very cheap price when the economy was in a doldrums is not true at all. The real reason is that the tax was introduced together with the blessing of AHRIM and the MGTO in order to stop the illegal renting of bungalows and thereby alleviating the poor occupancy rate of the hotels. In fact all those who had wished to rent their bungalows were required to be registered with the Ministry of Tourism, thereby paying the campement site tax in order to be on the same economic level playing field with the hotels. However the Ministry of Finance, rightly or wrongly saw this proposed tax by the Ministry of Tourism as an another source of revenue for the treasury and had applied it right across the board for everyone.
The forecast of the PM, Navin Ramgoolam and the vice-Prime Minister, Xavier Luc Duval to receive two millions tourists in the future seems as though to Mr Jean-Mée Desveaux the sky was falling on our heads. However, this is totally absurd as the Prime Minister pointed out at the above mentioned conference even professor Mead was wrong in condemning the Mauritian economy. We have seen too many “prophètes de malheur”, just to quote, the famous writer, V.S Naipaul, who some years ago, had coined Mauritius “as the overcrowded baracoon”. I am sure his conscience should prick him today, if he has any. When I had projected seven hundred thousands tourists for the early 21st century, it was considered at that time, nonsensical but is in fact a mere reality today.
Other points raised by Mr Desveaux are misleading: He mentions that there is no place to shelter clients in two of the new hotels when it rains. I would like to know where in the world any hotel can accommodate all its clients in its reception area at the same time whether there is rain, snow or a fire….. For that matter, clients at Christmas and New year have never been seated for dinner in one sitting when it rains or for that matter when there is a cyclone in spite of some investors having received exaggerated land which sometimes include mountains , lakes, islands etc (you name it !).
Mr Jean-Mée Desveaux’s suggestion to encourage investors to negotiate with these leased land beneficiaries for future investment would seem to me a solution that would further encourage the appetite of those who are already over privileged for their projects submitted at that time after independence.
It is important to note that Mr Jean-Mée Desvaux may not be aware that Mauritius after independence had signed many bilateral agreements, solidly binded on the parties, concerning the expropriation of properties by the Government, depriving the citizens of these countries of their legal property rights. In other words, any sugar coated package, implicating expropriation will not be tolerated even if it is compensated at market value. Here may I add that all the efforts being made by the Government and the private sector over the years to encourage foreign investments would be destroyed and hence sending the wrong signals to potential investors in the near future. This would be totally catastrophic for the country or for that matter, if this policy is accepted, let us say right away “Long Live Mugabe”.
Our core businesses remain Industries, Commerce, Financial services, Cybercity, Fish hub, Agriculture and last but not the least, Tourism, which is extremely fragile at a time when cyclones, chikungunya, tsunami, aids, bird’s flu, soaring oil prices, terrorism and oil tankers are round the corner. We should not play hide and seek or be the ostrich but we should rather attend to the crucial concrete measures related to the Tourist industry as a whole; thereby creating the right environmental condition for our investors, visitors and our people. Our people must understand and feel at ease in the development of tourism in the light of the harmonious aspect for the future development of this industry. It is all for the betterment of their interest.
Cyril VADAMOOTOO
NB : The writer has no malicious intention vis-à-vis anyone in particular and no axe to grind. This is purely a statement of facts by someone who has no crown land.
