Mauritius Rich Enough to Solve Traffic Problem

If we assume for just one second -- though I fully understand that this could be a leap of faith for most of you -- that the Rs25-30 billion rupees Sithanen says we need to fix the traffic problems are correct then we don't need to borrow one cent from abroad because we are rich enough to do it with our own cash.

In fact if government had started to put money to solve this important problem back in 2005 our traffic problems would certainly have been reduced to more reasonable levels. See, the audit report tells us that about Rs5 billion is wasted every year or Rs25 billion over a 5-year period. So that if we had managed to cut a quarter of that waste and add the Rs5 billion gift that Sithanen wasted on the dead sugar industry and the Rs3 billion that were mysteriously lost at the STC that would have provided us with about half the amount he's looking for. Government could then have budgeted an equal amount in its capital budget spread over 5 years. After all, Sithanen did brag about putting Rs14 billion in an opaque and useless stimulus package, right?

Of course as the traffic would have become more fluid we would have saved on petrol consumption and pollution while seriously improving living standards of almost everyone at the same time.

But almost absolutely nothing was done to make this problem any smaller in spite of what a fiery Ramgoolam promised exactly a week before the last time we voted him into power. Berenger is certainly not any better. He promised us that a metro was on its way for five whole years. Talk is cheap. We need new leaders.