The Highlands-Cote d’Or will soon encounter considerable change. A 185 acres urban space will welcome residential lots, schools and commercial centres.
After the huge town project in Highlands, will there be a similar project in the surroundings? A reflexion on this subject is underway.
If the Government starts a new integrated town development in Highlands over 325 acres, i.e.. five times more than Port-Louis surface area, the Employee Real Estate Investment Trust (EREIT) is thinking of what they shall do with the 185 land acres they have in the Highlands region, Cote d’or and Dagotière. Till the end of the year, the first developments shall be carried out on those lands.
“We will create residential lots and sell parcels of lands. It is a new urban space which will be created and which will be perfectly integrated to the new Highlands town. There will be schools, shops, green spaces and eventually shopping centres” explains one of EREIT board members.
“It is a whole integrated project which is being planned. We are also trying to take into account the surrounding developments and to graft other projects to ours.” Explains another member of the trust. Specialists are analyzing this project’s development.
In parallel, the EREIT is also developing the land parcels it has in Rivière-du-Rempart. It consists of 45 acres which will be fragmented. A request has already been made to the Morcellement board. The promoters are awaiting the approval. An agriculture school is also planned. “But is consists mainly of residential development” mentions the EREIT.
A second Cyber City
The EREIT also has 200 acres in Rose-Belle and 70 acres in the Trou-D’eau-Douce region. However, emphasis is not laid on those land parcels for the moment.
This trust was created in 2005 by the previous regime. It groups 350 000 shareholders, namely all those who were registered at the National Savings Fund before the 30 June 2004.
At that time, each share was worth Rs 1000. Thus, it was Rs 350 million which were taken from the Employees Welfare Fund by the Government to be injected in the EREIT.
Today, each share is worth Rs 2773.
The whole Highlands-Cote d’Or region is to undergo a real change. In parallel to the sub-mentioned developments, Business Parks of Mauritius Ltd (BPML) also hopes to develop a second cyber city, bigger than the one in Ebène.
Everything will depend on the lands’ availability. Moreover, those lands’ prices are increasing.
The First Town in Highlands
The new town’s construction project in Highlands is still on the agenda. The choice of the main promoter will be finalized in the forthcoming months. Two firms have been nominated, one Emirate and one Indian. They have been chosen by the “State Land Development company” (SLDC). They will have one month to submit their concept as well as their scale model by considering the eight specifications imposed by the State. Those criteria are: offices meeting international standards, a residential complex allowing the inhabitants to go walk to work, hypermarkets, a direct access from this town to the port, the airport and the country’s beaches and a flawless security system. The new town which will host the Mauritian parliament and the Supreme Court will extend on more than 900 hectares, near the Bagatelle dam. The Mauritian State will allocate the land. The constructor will have to finance himself all the works and look for clients for the different buildings, offices, houses, hospitals, etc…
