Answering the PQ of Mr R. Uteem (Second Member for Port Louis South & Port Louis Central), the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Alan Ganoo ha made clear that the government is going forward with the Rose-Hill/ Reduite metro line. The works and the extension will cost Rs4.555 billion. This is a fixed contract, and after a Due Diligence Exercise was done, all the experts have been sitting for weeks and weeks and deciding on whether we were obtaining value for money and after having assessed all the factors, Government decided to go with this project because it was going, as I just said, to be a valuable project bringing in 15,000 more additional passengers per day. L&T has already
started the detailed design works, for instance, geotechnical surveys and so on as from May 2021 and the completion date is targeted for early 2023.
The minister has made it clear that the Government has a vision to improve and
regenerate the transport system of this country and, as mentioned by the Prime Minister during several occasions, studies are being carried out to investigate the potential extension of the Metro Express network across the island.
Ébène Cybercity has proven to be a critical area of growth in Mauritius, as evidenced by the rapid employment growth with a net developable area of about 100 Arpents, with up to 70% of the area already developed. Studies. This shows that the whole city will be 32 developed in 5 years with more than 50,000 workers, which will account for nearly 10% of the total employment in Mauritius. Moreover, in terms of Business Growth, Ébène Cybercity has also become a preferred location for both public and private sector offices. Ébène Cybercity is considered as Mauritius new business hub for the future economic development and progress. Therefore, Ébène Cybercity remains a potential influence area to connect to the currently under construction light rail transit network. On top of that, there is a high density of Educational and Health Institutions in the region of Ébène. It is estimated that the student population includes more than 10,000 pupils according to the Tertiary Education Commission 2016, and accounts for 27% of the total tertiary education enrolment in the country. The health employment accounted for 12.5% of total employment, or approximately 3,300 full time equivalent jobs. Hence, the decision of the Government to extend the light rail network to Réduit as a priority project.
According to Metro Express Ltd , works will include major complex infrastructure along the 3.4 km stretch, namely
–
(a) a viaduct of 548m length connecting the existing superstructure at Rose Hill
central station up to the entrance of the SSS Ébène;
(b) a 120m Railway Bridge at Réduit which demands special technical
consideration due to its proximity to the dam near a power generation unit,
amidst complex topography. The existing old railway bridge will be
preserved;
(c) a 90m Railway Bridge at Rivière Sèche again amidst complex topography and
also to preserve road infrastructures amongst others, and
(d) there is also a special infrastructure for connectivity between Ébène Station
and Ébène Cyber City, either an underpass or overhead pedestrian bridge to be
confirmed after a detailed design stage.
Most of the track length will be mainly embedded as in Quatre Bornes and Vandermeersch considering that the alignment is mostly through urban areas.
There will be 3 stations along the extended alignment –
(1) Rose Hill interchange (Elevated);
(2) Ébène (at-grade), and
(3) Réduit interchange at-grade to intergrade with other modes of transport.
