It was recently announced that the Caudan flyover is late for delivery.

One was expecting reasons for such delay to be bad weather or the likelihood of cyclones – which, incidentally, are being predicted for December by the invariably wrong meteo office. When the latter declares that we will get cyclones, you can bet every thing you have that there will be no cyclones.

The reason for the Caudan delay that has advanced was that the Wastewater Management Authority had forgotten to alert the road builders about the presence of wastewater pipes passing underneath the site that was being used to build the flyover. What a waste and, once again, the Wastewater Management Authority proved that it is living up to its name. The authority of waste. In normal circumstances, such dereliction of duty of this magnitude should be accompanied by rolling heads.

But this is Mauritius where waste is rewarded. In any event, what was the Road Development Authority doing? Surely there must be a master plan for all major works carried out by all the Central Water and Waste Authorities. Elementary things are never done and the time has come for the Government to take to task all those who are directly involved in wasting taxpayers’money.

But at least there is one thing on which we can all agree: Mauritius is a small place and land is at a premium.

The present spate of road works going on, calls for a rethink about the kind of road infrastructure that Mauritius needs and can really afford in and for the future.

With public transportation still in disarray and unfit for a modern and outward oriented country, it is inevitable that car ownership will increase. There will inevitably be an increase in demand for road facilities.

All the works going on at present are already inadequate and unable to respond to present and future needs.

So what can be done?

The answer, as the song says, is blowing in the winds. Build on top of existing roads as many levels as are required. This system of increasing effortlessly and cost-effectively road infrastructure is already and has already been used in many parts of the world. I am positive that all those involved in road works who attend international seminars and conferences know about all this and there is no plausible reason why such a system has not been adopted here.

Unless there are other reasons which the lobbies alone are aware of.

With the adoption of building on existing roads, Government is dispensed with compulsorily acquiring lands at punitive prices. There are other advantages as well. Building above the roads eliminates the need to displace existing water and other piping networks. Tunnelling and excavation are very expensive operations and they cause environmental hardship. The prevalence of respiratory diseases must be a direct cause of such damaging works.

Mauritius can save billions of rupees if this system were to be used for all works involving road infrastructure. Of course some of the major companies engaged inroad works will find this idea unpalatable but that will be their business.

What must come as a priority in the mind of policy makers is the national interest. Maybe with such a system there is no need for any rail, light or otherwise.

It was recently announced that the Caudan flyover is late for delivery.

One was expecting reasons for such delay to be bad weather or the likelihood of cyclones – which, incidentally, are being predicted for December by the invariably wrong meteo office. When the latter declares that we will get cyclones, you can bet every thing you have that there will be no cyclones.

The reason for the Caudan delay that has advanced was that the Wastewater Management Authority had forgotten to alert the road builders about the presence of wastewater pipes passing underneath the site that was being used to build the flyover. What a waste and, once again, the Wastewater Management Authority proved that it is living up to its name. The authority of waste. In normal circumstances, such dereliction of duty of this magnitude should be accompanied by rolling heads.

But this is Mauritius where waste is rewarded. In any event, what was the Road Development Authority doing? Surely there must be a master plan for all major works carried out by all the Central Water and Waste Authorities. Elementary things are never done and the time has come for the Government to take to task all those who are directly involved in wasting taxpayers’money.

But at least there is one thing on which we can all agree: Mauritius is a small place and land is at a premium.

The present spate of road works going on, calls for a rethink about the kind of road infrastructure that Mauritius needs and can really afford in and for the future.

With public transportation still in disarray and unfit for a modern and outward oriented country, it is inevitable that car ownership will increase. There will inevitably be an increase in demand for road facilities.

All the works going on at present are already inadequate and unable to respond to present and future needs.

So what can be done?

The answer, as the song says, is blowing in the winds. Build on top of existing roads as many levels as are required. This system of increasing effortlessly and cost-effectively road infrastructure is already and has already been used in many parts of the world. I am positive that all those involved in road works who attend international seminars and conferences know about all this and there is no plausible reason why such a system has not been adopted here.

Unless there are other reasons which the lobbies alone are aware of.

With the adoption of building on existing roads, Government is dispensed with compulsorily acquiring lands at punitive prices. There are other advantages as well. Building above the roads eliminates the need to displace existing water and other piping networks. Tunnelling and excavation are very expensive operations and they cause environmental hardship. The prevalence of respiratory diseases must be a direct cause of such damaging works.

Mauritius can save billions of rupees if this system were to be used for all works involving road infrastructure. Of course some of the major companies engaged in road works will find this idea unpalatable but that will be their business.

What must come as a priority in the mind of policy makers is the national interest. Maybe with such a system there is no need for any rail, light or otherwise.