🇲🇺 A 389-lot estate seeks ground 50 metres from the Albion lighthouse

A 389-lot estate seeks ground 50 metres from the Albion lighthouse

The heirs Sohawon lodged their file last week, and it is a big one: 19.8 hectares at Albion cut into 389 lots, the nearest of them barely 50 metres from the Albion lighthouse. Their environmental impact application now sits with the Environment Ministry, which must decide whether the west coast landmark gets a neighbour of 357 homes, 20 plots zoned for homes and shops, and 12 green spaces.

Plots would run from 318 to 686 square metres, with a main access off the Pointe-aux-Caves road, presented as an extension of a subdivision already approved next door. The assessment, prepared by KDA Geosystems, calls the ground vacant, with 'no flora or fauna of ecological interest.'

That last line is the one objectors tend to test first. A parcel this close to a working lighthouse gets judged on the view, the traffic and the drains, not on how tidy the paperwork reads.

Fifty metres is close enough that the lighthouse stops being a view and starts being a boundary line.

Duval gives up two opposition posts after Lesjongard walks

Adrien Duval has stepped down as Opposition Whip and as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, the parliamentary body that scrutinises how public money is spent. In a letter to Speaker Shirin Aumeeruddy-Cziffra, he tied the move to Joe Lesjongard's departure as Leader of the Opposition.

Duval chaired 41 sittings of the committee and called it an honour to have run it. His exit leaves two posts to fill on opposition benches already thinned by recent churn. Whoever picks up the committee gavel inherits its unfinished audits, which is where the real leverage sits.

Watchdog voids a Rs 36.7 million CEB meter contract

The Independent Review Panel, which hears procurement disputes, has thrown out the Rs 36.7 million contract the Central Electricity Board handed J. Annauth Construction Ltd for 40,000 meter boxes. The losing bidder, Resiglas, argued the winning offer never proved the goods were genuinely local, and that a 30% margin for local makers made its own bid cheaper.

The panel agreed and ordered a fresh evaluation. A reset this late is the kind of delay a utility short on cash can least afford.

Mauritius lines up a Cambridge rewrite of the school syllabus

Education Minister Mahend Gungapersad met a Cambridge University delegation at Phoenix to map a curriculum overhaul: new technical streams, plus fresh subjects in financial literacy and wellbeing. Gungapersad wants school tied closer to how the country actually earns and spends.

Feuillet ends a 28-year wait with Commonwealth judo gold

Judoka Rémi Feuillet came home to a hero's welcome at Plaisance, gold from Glasgow around his neck. His win is the first Commonwealth Games judo title Mauritius has taken in 28 years, and the airport crowd made sure he felt every one of them. The wait is over.

Shorts

Mauritian passenger dies on a Delhi flight – A Mauritian passenger died aboard Air Mauritius flight MK745 from Delhi on Thursday.

Police search for a missing girl of 14 – Officers combed Pointe-aux-Sables after clues surfaced on TikTok about the missing teenager.

Two parcels from France hide 2.25 kg of drugs – Customs intercepted two air parcels carrying 2.25 kg of suspected drugs.

PME ministry flags a fake subsidy scam – A bogus aid scheme is impersonating the ministry to phish owners of small businesses.

Regulator opens online safety talks with Meta – The ICT ministry began its first consultations with Meta and TikTok on online safety.

Rs 38.54 billion

Tourism operators' bank debt has slipped 8.1% in a year, dropping under the Rs 39 billion mark. Fewer loans on the books usually means the sector has stopped rebuilding and started paying down.

583,000 tonnes

That is roughly how much rubbish now lies buried at Mare Chicose, nearly 84,500 tonnes more than a year ago. One island, one landfill, and still no plan for the day it fills.

$25 million

Washington is offering that for the alleged new boss of Mexico's Jalisco cartel, with bounties above $100 million out for the group's other leaders. He is said to be El Mencho's stepson.

Nigeria frees 308 kidnap victims in its biggest rescue

Nigerian forces freed 308 people held by kidnap gangs across Niger and Kwara states, the largest haul recovered in a single day. Kidnap gangs had grabbed most of them in the mass abductions that have plagued the north for years.

No ransom, the presidency said. The harder question is whether the gangs simply regroup and take the next busload.

DR Congo halts copper and cobalt concentrate exports

DR Congo banned exports of copper and cobalt concentrates, pushing miners to refine at home and keep more of the value.

Ghana opposition marches over 'democracy under attack'

Ghana's main opposition marched in protest, accusing governing party of muzzling speech and bending democracy its way.

Ukraine's drones reach oil refineries deep inside Russia

Ukraine sent drones deep into Russia overnight and hit oil refineries, including the Slavneft-Yanos plant, among the furthest strikes of the war so far. Moscow answered with its own barrage, civilians died on both sides of the line.

Refineries are the new front. Every plant knocked offline nudges the price of the crude the whole world pays for.

Europe bakes as Italy hits red alert and Austria sets a record

A brutal heatwave put several Italian cities on red alert and pushed Austria to a national high, while wildfires flared across southern Europe.

Mexican jalapenos leave 345 sick across 27 US states

Salmonella from Mexican jalapenos has sickened 345 people across 27 US states, triggering a distributor recall.

75 students, 24 hours, one AI build

What can 75 students build in a single day? At Middlesex University Mauritius, they spent 24 hours chasing that answer, coding tools around Google's open Gemma models.

Nobody expects the next big app to walk out of a campus hackathon. But a room of young Mauritians treating AI as something to build, not just scroll past, is its own kind of result.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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