An agreement was signed, Thursday morning, between the Road Development Authority (RDA), the ENL, and Moka City Ltd, for the construction of a Grade Separated Junction to link the proposed Verdun bypass and St Pierre bypass.
The signature ceremony was held at the seat of the RDA in Ebène in the presence of the Minister of Infrastructure and Community Development, Mr Mahendranuth Sharma Hurreeram; the Chief Executive Officer of ENL Ltd, Mr Hector Espitalier-Noël; the General Manager of the RDA, Mr Nazeer Mowlabaccus; and representatives from Moka City Ltd.
In a statement, Minister Hurreeram highlighted that the agreement signed pertains to a 50/50 cost sharing mechanism with ENL Ltd and Moka City Ltd. He rejoiced that the bypass will allow traffic flow from Verdun bypass to St Pierre bypass and vice versa, will improve travel time, reduce accidents, and will impact the lives of those people who travel in this region.
He further recalled that the project forms part of the Road Decongestion Programme whose objective is to alleviate traffic congestion along the main roads across the country. He highlighted that since the past two months, three major projects have been inaugurated, namely the flyovers at Jumbo, Pont Fer, and Hillcrest.
For his part, Mr Espitalier-Noël stated that ENL Ltd will contribute in terms of land to a value of 50% of the cost of the project adding that lands of a total of 68,73 ‘arpents’ will be provided for the construction of the Grade Separated Junction, Verdun Bypass, and other infrastructural projects. He expressed satisfaction at the public-private collaboration and hoped that this synergy will give rise to many more projects in the future.
The project
The project will consist of a bridge that will allow traffic movement over the Motorway M3, from the Verdun Bypass (East) to St Pierre Bypass (A17) and vice versa. Moreover, a link will be constructed to connect the bridge and St Pierre Bypass (A17) over a length of 500 m.
The grade separated junction will also consist of two loops that will allow traffic movement from the North (Motorway M3) to St Pierre Bypass and from Ebene (Motorway M3) to the proposed Verdun Bypass (East).
Four slip lanes will be provided which will allow the following traffic movements:
- From St Pierre Bypass (A17) to Port-Louis (Motorway M3),
- From Port-Louis (Motorway M3) to Verdun Bypass,
- From Verdun Bypass to Ebène (Motorway M3), and
- From Ebène (Motorway M3) to St Pierre Bypass.
