Assembly’s Islands Committee reviews and lays down programme of work |06 January 2018

The Islands Committee ‒ a select committee of the sixth National Assembly with a special mandate to look into the issues of islands ‒ convened its first meeting for the year on Wednesday this week.

The committee met to establish the programme of work for the remaining months and also to consider the schedule of remaining visits before presenting a final comprehensive report before the Assembly, hopefully, by the end of the first term.

It also did an appraisal of its work to date and expressed satisfaction with the progress and support extended to the committee on previous visits. 

The Islands Committee has over the past months received many queries from the public regarding access to the islands by Seychellois. It is in this respect and in a bid of making the islands accessible to Seychellois for leisure and investment, that the chair of the committee has written to the chief executive of the Islands Development Company (IDC) Glenny Savy seeking information on how members of the public can proceed with reservations on the IDC islands which have facilities for locals, the cost and other required conditions.

A specific interim report with these relevant details will be presented to the National Assembly in March.

In furtherance of its ongoing mandate to look at optimising the use of our islands, the committee will also be meeting with members of the public and various stakeholders in early February for ideas on how our islands should be managed and developed.

The committee intends on completing visits to the following islands during the recess: Cousin, Cousine, Curieuse, Félicité, Marianne, Bird, Denis, Frégate and North Island.

The National Assembly approved a motion establishing an Islands Committee on February 28, 2017 to look into how best to optimise the use of our islands.

The committee, which comprises seven members, began its work in March 2017 and most islands under IDC management or government owned, as well as private islands, have already been visited.