Assembly apprised of traffic management plan for Victoria |15 November 2012

The Minister for Home Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan gave details of the plan in a statement while Seychelles Land Transport Agency (SLTA) chief executive Parinda Herath made a technical power-point presentation showing the proposed road improvement and development.

Minister Morgan said the government is seeking financial help from international funds such as the SADC Infrastructure Trust Fund funded by the European Union, the Abu Dhabi Fund among others to help it carry out the plan – an important investment of some R1 billion which it hopes to realise over a period of five years.
 
He said the plan has been prepared in collaboration with various local stakeholders such as the SLTA, the Ministry of Land use and Housing, the national project monitoring unit, the Singapore Land Transport Authority and the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Transport.

Explaining aspects of the plan, Minister Morgan said with around 15,000 vehicles on the street, there is a need to urgently tackle certain aspects of the situation immediately while others would be addressed in the mid-term and long-term.

The minister also said the government will seek ways to bring the situation under control so as to continue to ensure there is enough space for reasonable traffic flow on our streets without heavy congestions which is the case at present.

Minister Morgan pointed out that in and around Victoria today, apart from one or two streets which have recently been improved like Albert and Quincy streets, almost all the other streets are congested at all times during the day and not only during peak hours as was previously the case.

The minister noted that the situation is getting worse as more and more developments are taking place in and around the town area and a new village was recently opened at Ile Perseverance.

To try and address the related traffic circulation constraints and requests for more lanes and better traffic flow around Victoria, the ministry has responded by proposing a traffic management plan for Victoria and surrounding traffic corridors.

Minister Morgan said the traffic problem is affecting the country’s economy in terms of productivity as more and more people lose precious time in traffic jams and it costs the country in terms of fuel as vehicles tend to burn a lot of fuel when stuck in long queues.

The minister also pointed out that the road infrastructure around the country as a whole no longer has the capacity to cope with the increasing volume of traffic and a considerable investment in transport infrastructure is required from the government.

The plan he presented for Victoria forms part of a larger plan which includes enlarging the roads on the west coast of Mahe.

 This plan is to be presented to the National Assembly at a later date.
Minister Morgan pointed out that the traffic problem around Victoria has been studied previously and improvements have been carried out as a result.

 He noted that the first study – the Victoria traffic management study – was carried out by Gibbs company in 2005 and was completed in 2007. Two more studies were done in 2008 by the Victoria Harbour Development Corporation South African company Traficon.