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India and Mauritius seek Island Deal
By Islomaniac | November 29, 2006
All to often in the media we read about countries fighting over islands. Apparently Mauritius is seeking a partnership with India to develop the Agalega Islands. How the deal would work is that Indian companies would develop hotels and resorts on the islands which belong to Mauritius. It sounds to me like their could be a great partnership in the works and perhaps some new 5 star private island resorts!
Author Unknown
The Times of India
In a move that could give the country a strategic presence in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius has offered to hand over the Agalega Islands — which is closer to India than the African country — ostensibly for development as a tourist destination.
The details of the offer, made during negotiations for a bilateral trade pact, are still being discussed. But its broad contours are something like this. Indian companies would develop hotels and resorts and also upgrade the existing airstrip in the island into an airport.
Sources close to the negotiations said that Indian companies or the government also had the option to develop a port, which could be used for purposes of both trade and tourism.
While Mauritius has given projects to private developers on long-term lease, a source said that in this case it could be different since it was a government-to-government deal. “But these are early days. The details have to be thrashed out,” he added.
The two islands on offer — North and South Agalega — are over 1,000 km from Mauritius but whether India gets to develop just one of them or both depends on the development plan, a source said. “It can be used for agriculture, tourism or for other strategic purposes,” said a source.
Sources said that initial estimates suggested that the cost of building resorts and hotels could be quite high since Mauritius wanted to develop the islands, which have a land area of 70 sq km, for premium tourists.
The North island has two villages — Vingt Cinq and la Fourche — with a bulk of the infrastructure in the former. At present, only the Outer Island Development Corporation of Mauritius can organise trips to Agalega and people can either travel by boat or fly for three hours from Mauritius on a non-pressurised, non-airconditioned Dornier
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