Baie Ste Anne post office to cease operations on March 15 |16 February 2022
Ms Buisson (Photo: Louis Toussaint)
The Baie Ste Anne post office on Praslin will cease operations on March 15, 2022.
This was announced by the chief executive of the Seychelles PostalServices, Mariella Buisson, in a press meet held yesterday at Liberty House.
“The main reason for this closure is because business is slow. Each year, the Seychelles Postal Services spends R1.3 million to run the Baie Ste Anne post office and generates only R292,000. The Baie Ste Anne post office currently employs six persons and in January this year they were informed that the Baie Ste Anne branch will be closed permanently on March 15, 2022. All the employees will be transferred to the Grand Anse Praslin branch,” explained Ms Buisson.
The Baie Ste Anne post office was opened in 2010 and was located in two different locations, the latest one being in the Horizon building. To prepare for this closure, Ms Buisson noted that they have informed the member of the National Assembly, district administrator, government offices, private businesses and the people in general will know through adverts in the media.
The main tasks being done at the Baie Ste Anne post office are delivering letters and facilitating payment of bills. A small gift shop was also attached to the post office and they also had a courier service. All this will continue but from a different location.
Ms Buisson also pointed out that Praslin has two post offices compared to La Digue which has one and Mahé also has two offices. In total, the Seychelles Postal Services employs some 100 people. There is also a parcel section in Victoria.
With the pandemic, all post offices in the world had to bear the consequences of lockdowns across the world. “Due to cancellation of flights, mails were caught in different countries. The pandemic really affected the mail business. What we want to introduce on Praslin is the delivery of small parcels as the concept of post office is changing across the world,” said Ms Buisson.
Vidya Gappy