𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐚 : 𝐍𝐆𝐎𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞-𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝

Representatives from Eco-Sud, the Aret Kokin Nu Laplaz (AKNL) platform and the MRU2025 were protesting at Balaclava to express their concern that a section of public beach had apparently been removed from the public domain. This section amounting to nearly 40% of the public beach and declassified in 2008, has been incorporated into the lease of a local hotel.

The NGOs want to draw public attention to the issue and is calling for this section to be “re-designated” as a public beach. They point out that the issue of access to public beaches is becoming an increasing cause for concern in Mauritius. « Il ne reste que 15 % de plages publiques officiellement proclamées à Maurice »

The NGOs believe that if the amount of public beach accessible to the public continues to shrink, Mauritians risk being crammed to small stretches of coastline that are already heavily frequented and impacted by coastal erosion and rising sea levels.

When asked about this matter, the Ministry of Housing and Land struck a cautious note stating that he will have to ensure that cancelling the lease does not expose the State "𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘴."

When they had to pay out a massive compensation of Rs 5.55 billion to their ex-chum Betamax, impacting on the public purse and STC reserves, then there was no issue .

Now when it’s a question of restituting the right of Mauritians' access to beaches and putting a stop to "𝒄𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆 𝒅’𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒔", they are trying to scare us with risks of compensation claims !

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 , 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄'𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆, 𝒖𝒏𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 !