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The transport system in Mauritius comprises several disparate parts:

§  infrastructure:  roads, airport and port;

§  operating services:  buses, taxis, public road haulers, airlines and shipping services; and

§  private users:  users of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, own-use commercial vehicles, private boats and aircraft, and pedestrians.

All these are trying to achieve the same basic purposes of moving people and goods between their chosen locations for their diverse activities, whether work, social or recreation.

For a Transport Strategy to be effective, integration of purpose and action is required in the following areas:

§  Policies and plans:  With several government ministries involved in `, regulating and operating the sector, it is essential that an integrated approach is taken to policy matters.  Transport also has an impact on other sectors of the economy, such as tourism and industry, and is an integral part of land use `, which is, and must be, a government responsibility.  Transport is much more than just a service to land use; the success of land use plans often depends upon the level of accessibility provided by the transport system and the introduction of new transport infrastructure can have significant consequences for land use patterns.

§  Systems:  To some extent the different transport modes compete with each other, but often they are complementary.  Their infrastructures therefore need to interconnect and their services need to interchange in the most efficient way possible.

§ Regulation:  Transport tends to provide opportunities for local monopoly exploitation; government regulation of competition or fares may then be necessary to protect the public interest.  Transport is also a dangerous industry and government regulation is again necessary to ensure appropriate levels of public safety.

§  Budgets:  To some extent all the transport modes depend on government funds.  This means that priorities have to be determined in an objective and co-ordinated way.

  §    For all these reasons, government needed a transport strategy.  Such a strategy should:

o  provide a clear statement of goals and objectives in the transport field;

o     address present and future transport deficiencies;

o     recognise and be adaptive to change;

o     recognise constraints to its implementation;

o     provide a transport plan and policy to accompany and support national and regional land use and development plans;

o     provide a long-term investment programme covering all modes; and

o     ensure that supporting policies are in place to allow government to fulfil its functions and responsibilities with regard to the ` and regulation of transport infrastructure and services.

Our Policy Goals

Strategic transport goals tend to be much the same everywhere.  In Mauritius, they are stated as follows:

§ To combine with land use strategy to give people and enterprises the accessibility to the activities and supplies they need, as easily and cheaply as possible.

§ To use economic resources efficiently:  Provision of transport is costly; it also consumes people`s time, is a demanding user of land, and uses, if not destroys, environmental resources.  An important goal therefore is to minimise the economic burden of transport on the community and to ensure that transport projects and policies are not approved unless and until they have the potential to provide adequate economic returns.

§ To support environmental goals:  All motorised transport is noisy, polluting, and intrusive, and in most countries it is the predominant source of environmental degradation.  An environmental goal therefore is to reduce the volume of traffic and the extent of traffic congestion, wherever this can be done without incurring excessive replacement costs.

§ To minimise accidents:  This is an obvious and continuing goal in all countries, since all forms of transport are inherently dangerous.  There will always be accidents and there will always be a need to try to reduce them.

Implementing the Transport Strategy: Putting in place the Co-ordination and Monitoring Mechanisms

One of the reasons for the failure of past initiatives in the transport sector has been a lack of adequate co-ordination arrangements.  The Transport Strategy is such that no one ministry can take it forward on its own; effective co-ordination is therefore essential to successful implementation.  A strong mechanism is now being set up to adopt and manage the proposed Transport Strategy.  The objectives are:

·    to institutionalise co-ordination by the establishment of regular meetings with fixed membership, proper records of proceedings and publication of information papers;

·    to make maximum use of existing technical and administrative resources, by involving all senior transport professional in an integrated way;

·    to establish a centre of excellence in transport planning - a discipline that is almost completely lacking in Mauritius - by creating a `critical mass` of like-minded professionals who can take encouragement from working together rather than being scattered in individual ministries; and

·    to act as a channel for specifying and supervising such technical assistance and human resources development as may be necessary.

The work involved has been divided between 9 Workgroups, each covering one aspect of the Strategy, as indicated in the Figure below. Many of these will be based on existing long-term units such as the Traffic Management and Road Safety Unit and the Transport Policy Unit, responsible for the Light Rail Transit Implementation.  Others will bring together expertise from a number of ministries to develop programmes that are best undertaken by more than one ministry.  Although these will not be deployed full-time, the objective is to create a forum for co-ordination that can influence the work of individual ministries.

Overall guidance and co-ordination of the Workgroups is being provided by a high-level Transport Policy Co-ordinating Committee, chaired by the Mr. N. Bachraz, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport (LTS Division), and assisted by a full-time Secretariat and a full-time Transport Policy Unit (for technical support, data collection, research, monitoring, etc.), headed by Mr. K. Bunjun, Principal Economist at the Ministry of Economic Development, Financial Services and Corporate Affairs.

Each workgroup is currently fully operational and tackling all the objectives as set out in the Transport Strategy.

Figure 1: Structure of Co-ordination Arrangements

Priority Tasks

In devising the terms of reference for the Workgroups, a number of priority tasks (representing the `immediate` component of the Strategy) have been identified. The priority tasks include:

·         Workgroup 1:  Before any real progress can be made with the LRT project, the government needs to acknowledge the essential need for its active involvement in the project by establishing a strong project development unit with the appropriate mix of technical and administrative skills, and if necessary a Project Manager recruited from overseas.  Then there is a need to commission an engineering review to confirm the extent and implications of grade separation, traffic management and land requirements, and to confirm costs.  The study should include outline design of the bus feeder network required to support the LRT, to indicate the extent of bus service restructuring that may be required.  This should lead to a strengthening of the technical content of the Bidding Documents.  Consideration also needs to be given to recruitment of a corporate Technical Advisor and a Financial Advisor for the project, with the latter providing `financial engineering` inputs in respect of both the public and private sector investment components.

·         Workgroup 2:  A `privatisation` study is required to investigate the most appropriate means of increasing private sector participation in the National Transport Corporation (NTC), to bring it into line with the other private bus companies.  Steps should also be taken to encourage individual operators to join co-operatives, to introduce a more liberal regulatory regime designed to encourage responsiveness to markets, and to encourage more effective taxi operations.  To allow more effective planning of public transport services, NTA`s records need to be computerised as soon as possible and effective database management procedures put in place.

·         Workgroup 3:  A joint planning and engineering study is required to develop the strategy for Port Louis City Centre into a workable plan, incorporating car parking, pedestrianisation and traffic circulation and access components.  Appropriate parking standards also need to be determined and interim measures introduced to cope with development applications that include new off-street parking places.  Steps should be taken to reintroduce, operate and enforce the paid parking scheme, and to design and introduce appropriate residents` parking schemes.  Practical measures should also be taken to clear key pedestrian and public transport routes, and improve conditions in transport terminals.

·         Workgroup 4:  The prototype highway inventory and condition monitoring system needs to be examined to see whether further development might be useful.  If so, system development should be commissioned, software purchased, training obtained and routine monitoring procedures put in place.  There is also a need to undertake an alignment study of the proposed Western Distributor Road (to include both highway planning/engineering and land use planning inputs) in order to safeguard an alignment and determine implementation costs.  In addition, the ongoing planning of the Port Louis Outer Ring Road and Phoenix-Beaux Songes Road should proceed as a matter of priority.

·         Workgroup 5:  Detailed studies of traffic and transport management are required in selected settlements outside the conurbation.  A study of Mahebourg has been suggested, in conjunction with the proposed Waterfront Development.  Similar studies of other areas could also be commissioned, in view of the fact that the bypass programme may have to be delayed.  All studies should consider land use planning, transport planning and physical (engineering) needs in an integrated way.  In parallel with this there is an urgent need to adopt or devise uniform road signing and marking standards.  Outside technical assistance for this might be appropriate. 

·         Workgroup 6:  There is an urgent need to update the legislation, regulations and procedures associated with vehicle licensing and registration.  Again, the status of NTA`s computerisation needs to be reviewed and assistance provided to accelerate the programme if necessary.  This is an essential prerequisite to many aspects of enforcement.    

·         Workgroup 7:  An objective study is required to determine the logistical implications and costs of introducing improved fuel quality.  Then appropriate fuel quality and vehicle emission standards can be devised and promulgated.  In parallel, the privatisation of vehicle examination centres needs to be accelerated, with technical assistance if necessary from an already certified source. 

·         Workgroup 8:  Adequate technical assistance is already in hand and an appropriate work programme is ongoing (as determined by the Road Safety Action Plan); no further assistance is required.

·         Workgroup 9:  A study is required of the potential for regional transhipment traffic, and to identify any institutional, procedural or operational changes that are necessary to enhance the attractiveness of the freeport.