The revamped gov. mu website sure is nice and colourful, isn’t it? And although its cost has raised many eyebrows, it’s definitely an improvement on its excruciatingly stolid predecessor.

It even has a section devoted entirely to Green Mauritius. One of the photos in the slideshow gracing the top of the page represents a Dragonball Z-esque half-planet floating in space with rolling green plains and a couple of trees and windmills thrown in for good measure.

Needless to say, this utopian depiction is several galaxies removed from our increasingly concrete-covered little island. The most enlightening part though is the one reserved for Maurice: Ile Durable ( MID), especially the list of projects completed, complete with their cost breakdown. By adding them all up, it appears that around Rs1.35 billion has been spent on MID ( including Rs 100 millions on social housing), which, given how much money has actually been allocated to the project over the years, seems rather paltry.

For those of you who may have forgotten, MID was launched by the Prime Minister in early 2008. A few months later, Rama Sithanen presented his budget for an Attractive, Modern, Inclusive, Green and Open Mauritius in which he put aside around Rs 1.4 billion for MID. Several successive budgets also earmarked signifi cant funds for the government’s sustainability drive. And then, of course, there’s the MID tax on petroleum products and coal, which according to my ( conservative) estimate has generated something in the vicinity of Rs 1.6 billion since 2008. According to the World Bank’s report on reforming the tax system to promote environmental objectives, the MID Tax was introduced to “ finance clean energy projects”. Now, I know I’ve mentioned this phrase several times in the past, but verily, it never gets old.

Just by adding Sithanen’s Rs 1.4 billion and the revenues from the MID Tax, we get a total of Rs 3 billion that should’ve been invested in preparing the country to face the numerous challenges that lie ahead, be it climate change or the inevitable food and energy crises of the future. Obviously, none of this comes cheap. The good news is that there are funds for the project, funds that are being generated by ordinary Mauritians when they fill up at the petrol station. The bad news is that government has shown itself to be parsimonious when it comes to MID, which is surprising considering how much it’s spending on upgrading the road network, for example.

There are some positives though: MID money has gone towards the installation of a hydro plant at Midlands Dam, the gas- to- energy project at Mare-Chicose, the solar water heater scheme and incentives for a feed-in tariff for small energy producers, to name but a few. I’m particularly looking forward to the results of the pre-feasibility study on viability of geothermal energy in Mauritius. Now if only the rest of the money could be used wisely and transparently, there’s no telling what we’re capable of achieving in the next few years.
 
 

Nicholas RAINER