Probably not. That was part of the disorientation plot along with the 100+ measures presented in the last three budgets that produced little more than robust poverty and acute frustration. LBOI stands for Land-based Oceanic Industry. Now you remember, don't you?
I have to admit that when I heard Sithanen talk about this project for the first time almost three years ago on the radio I was completely mesmerised. Just imagine. He was promising air-conditioners running with cold deep sea water. I even remember dreaming about hordes of unemployed people donning their gear and proudly diving to Stella Maru to place those pipes or whatever you call them.
And to top it all, I was planning to write an article about LBOI to ask whether it would be technically feasible to also place pipes all the way to La Fournaise and Karthala volcanoes. Hey, hey! Air-con and almost free hot water: what more could you possibly ask from life? Three years after we're realising that LBOI was nothing but hot air. This definitely doesn't look good, given that summer seemed to have arrived quite early this year.
If my memory does not fail me, the Land-based Oceanic Industry (LBOI) is the brainchild of the Mauritius Research Council. Now that the industry's massive potential seems to be sinking in, Mr Sithanen is seeking to bandwagon and, in typical fashion, take the credit after having sung the "empty coffers" mantra and hence exacerbating the fluidity of our national logistics . The Prime minister has promised to exhibit the first bottled specimen of the product soon. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteSpot on. Here is a quote from TAMBO - http://morisk.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-8-september-2007.html: "Another way of looking at it is to realise that standards of living can be raised by reducing the multiple levels of frustration that we face as citizens of our island-state. Of course, we would have to be worried if debt levels were going up and the money were wasted or mysteriously disappearing or if debt levels were going down but new levels of frustration were cropping up. If you are solving problems that really matter both debt levels and frustration levels will eventually go down."
ReplyDelete