The Private Notice Question was addressed to the Minister of National Infrastructure. It concerned the flooding of Sunday, April 21st. Bobby Hurreeram made a comparison, at the start of his answer, between the rainfall recorded on 15th January and that of 21st April. He said that in Albion, for example, more that 300 millimeters were recorded on Sunday. “It is the highest rainfall record,” he explained.
Bobby Hurreeram said in his answer that the country is at war against the effects of climate change. He added that no government and no country can avoid flooding. “All they can do is to implement mitigating measures,” he insisted.
He also announced that over a period of 5 financial years, 539 projects to the tune of around Rs 3.8 billion have been completed. Some other 114 projects for a total amount of Rs 3.3 billion are ongoing and 150 drain projects for an estimated amount of Rs 2.8 billion are at bidding stage.
He also indicated that the Land Drainage Authority has identified so far 306 flood prone areas, of which 62 have been declared as high risk flood prone. 20 projects in those high risk flood prone areas have been completed, 13 are under construction, and another 10 are at tender stage.
The Minister also stated that all the possible scenarios for flood mitigation measures have been investigated and he listed a series of structural measures to, he added, mitigate the flooding in the City Centre of Port Louis. He also revealed on the compensation issue that as at 9 am this Tuesday, 735 persons have requested for assistance for compensation.
