They received a letter from the Ministry of Housing and Lands informing them that the government will acquire their property to start the construction of the bridge also known as the Dream Bridge.
It should be highlighted that approximately 90,000 vehicles enters Port Louis everyday and the priority of the government is to improve road connectivity and decongesting traffic. According to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, National Development Unit, Land Transport and Shipping, the bridge forms part of a project to decongest the region of Port-Louis. With a length of 2.7 km, the bridge will be spanning the harbour of Port Louis and will open the way for the toll system.
The Rs 8 billion project will be realised through the public-private partnership (PPP), which is an initiative of the Mauritius Ports Authority. It will provide benefits that will encourage business development, trade, tourism and economic sectors. The bridge will also alleviate the traffic flow from Beau-Bassin and other routes as it will be connected to the Ring Road.
When the Dream Bridge project was announced last year, the inhabitants of the region had showed their dissatisfaction and now receiving the letter from the ministry to leave their house is even painful.
According to an official of the Housing Ministry , in the letter, minister Abu Kasenally stated that as part of this project to construct the bridge, the lands located near Les Salines to Cassis must be acquired by the government. The concerned people have also been given a lapse of two weeks, that is, until the end of April to decide on the amount of compensation that they wish to be refunded with.
