Residents of Anse à la Mouche demand urgent review of hotel project in their district |08 February 2021
Over the weekend many people took to social media to express their dissatisfaction over the construction of a new extension of the Hilton hotel at Anse à La Mouche which is expected to start next month.
The project has seemingly received the green light despite concerns raised by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Seychelles over the protection of the wetland and adjacent coastal area.
A petition, which so far has garnered 750 signatures, has been launched to demand that the government review its approval of this project. A letter has also been raised to the attention of the president in which residents of Anse à la Mouche and other concerned parties have expressed their strong objections to the hotel development project as proposed by the company ‘Anse à la Mouche Property Development Ltd’ which has leased Parcel C7983 for the purpose.
Many scoping reports have been made by a number of NGOs such as Sustainability for Seychelles (S4S), Terrestrial Restoration Action Society of Seychelles (Trass), Centre d’Acceuil de La Rosière (Car), Plant Conservation Action Group, Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS).
In a communiqué published in Seychelles NATION last week, sustainability for Seychelles remarked that “when the new government came in last October we reiterated our position with regard to this project through CEPS and directly to the Department of Environment, the Planning Authority and their Board members. In spite of our various efforts, we learnt over a week ago that this project is going ahead. The road diversion through the wetlands has been demarcated with metal poles and we were told by the surveyors on site that work is due to start in March 2021, and the contract had been awarded to UCPS”.
The letter addressed to the president requests that the government reviews this project proposal and takes into consideration all the points raised by the NGO.
However the head of state has remarked that when the new government came in, permission had already been granted (by the former administration) for the project to go ahead and that the new government cannot prevent the construction from taking place.
When the project was presented to members of the public in 2019, residents of the area objected strongly to the road diversion which will divide the community.
“The hotel site will destroy yet another large section of the remaining 10 percent of wetlands left on Mahé, in spite of Seychelles being a signatory to the Ramsar Convention since 2005. The project proposal provides no details of what their environment management plan might be for such a sensitive area as a wetland. The only suggestion is to build weirs which are known to be ineffective in wetlands,” said Marie-Thérèse Purvis, board member of S4S, in a letter she wrote to the Seychelles News Agency.
On a post made by Ocean Project Seychelles asking people to sign the petition, commentators have stated that it is important to think more about nature, and not just about money.
“Another big hotel planned exactly in an area which is important to our already fragile ecosystem? Really? We have enough of those already, we don’t NEED or WANT another one,” commented one user.
Another commented that “It wasn’t long ago that I was involved in a ‘Save Grand Police’ project which was thankfully saved (for now), WHY are we SO ignorant to sell off our country’s beauty and paradise. Land that provides home to so many species, it’s utterly disgraceful”.
Hilton stated to Africa.Com that significant investment is going into developing the facilities of the surrounding beach at Anse à la Mouche, including a boutique shopping village. The resort will offer 120 locally inspired guestrooms and space to accommodate more intimate meetings and events.
At the time of writing this article government officials had not yet commented on if they would review the project.
Christophe Zialor