Mauritius News Digest August 2011
Written by Editor Monday, 15 August 2011 11:56
Work on first pirate prison to
start on August 22
The first pirate prison on the island will be set
up at Petit Verger. This will also include a
courthouse.
Work on the same will start on August 22 after
the arrival of a European Union (EU) delegation.
Also, a bill to tackle the problem is ready and will
be presented in parliament soon.
These details were announced during the signing
ceremony between the ambassador and head of
delegation of the European Union, Alessandro
Mariani and vice prime minister and minister of
Finance and Economic Development, Pravind
Jugnauth at the New Government Centre, Port
Louis.
An additional grant of around three million euro,
representing Rs125 million, was also provided for
the implementation of a transfer agreement that is
part of the Country Strategy Paper and National
Indicative Programme. This is financed by the
European Development Fund. This model is
similar to the one implemented in Seychelles.
Somalian pirates will be judged and deported to
their country of origin where they will serve their sentence.
Multimedia creativity workshop (23-24 August)
Creative Masters Tour, a two-day workshop on
multimedia creativity, will be held on August 23
and 24 under a dome built exclusively for this
purpose at Trianon.
This was announced on by Nicolas Le Maire,
director of Maurisoft, during a press conference
held at its headquarters in Phoenix.
Maurisoft, a company that specialises in
multimedia solutions and the official
representative of Adobe in Mauritius and the
African region, will provide creative Mauritians of
various trades with the opportunity to interact with
professionals of global repute within the
multimedia world.
The workshop will have key speakers like
Mohammed Jogie, director of South Africa-based
Morning Star Design, Lisa Taylor, colour
consultant at the National Colour System
Company and Harry Ravalomanantsoa, head of sales for Toon Boom Animation in the Africa/Indian Ocean region.
Samuel Yeung to dress Miss Mauritius Universe
After winning the Heat Fashion Tour 2011,
young and talented designer Samuel Yeung has
been given the opportunity to design the outfit
for the current Miss Mauritius 2011 candidates
and the national costume for Miss Mauritius
Universe 2011 Laetitia Darche.
Darche will leave for Sao Paulo, Brazil on
August 14 to participate in the Miss Universe
contest which will be held on September 12. The Miss Mauritius 2011 Grand Finale will be held at J&J Auditorium at Phoenix on August 6.
White Paper on culture/arts in the pipeline
A White Paper on arts and culture will be
presented in about two months with various
measures and policies to encourage local and
international artists.
The White Paper will consist of various
proposals, including the setting up of a creative art
industry, music caravan and ensuring more
protection to artists. Art clusters will also be set up
to allow artists to sell their products daily.
AGFT centre to be ready by April 2012
The Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund Interpretation
Centre, which will bear the name of
Beekrumsing Ramlallah, will be inaugurated
by April 2012.
Government has already voted a budget of Rs56
million for the centre. The new centre will serve as
an innovative multimedia arena, with the aim to
present the history of immigrants who came to
Mauritius.
It will also showcase archaeological remains,
including the results of scientific excavations.
Interviews recorded in the context of the Oral
History project (whereby all people aged who are
70 years and above and are descendants of
indentured labourers, will be interviewed) will be
treanscribed and preserved in the Beekrumsing
Ramlallah Interpretation Centre.
PRB report due for publication in October 2012
The Pay Research Bureau (PRB) will publish
its next report in October 2012.
At present the bureau is working on wage
structures with unions., starting with the
Fédération des Syndicats du Service Civil (FSSC)
and the State Employees Federation (SEF). The
bureau has already completed its first task, which
consisted of reviewing the conditions of service of
officers and employees of parastatal bodies.
Three youths take part in exchange programme
Three youth leaders, aged between 18 and 25,
will visit France from July to August 20 in the
context of the international youth exchange
programme (Rencontres Internationales de
Jeunes).
The programme aims to enable young people
from different countries to discover the French
culture and visit some historical monuments. It is
an initiative of the ministry of Foreign Affairs of
France through the French Institute of Mauritius in
collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and
Sports. The three young people were selected out
of 17 candidates on June 24.
Gender statistics favour women
The Central Statistics Office has published the
gender statistics for 2010. It gives an idea
about the women and men in Mauritius and
includes their demographic profile, family
status, labour force characteristics and their
role in decision making.
According to CSO figures, in 2010, there were
17,540 more women than men. It also shows that
the female population will exceed the male
population by around 28,000 by 2050. The sex
ratio in the population declined from 100.2 in
1972 to 97.3 in 2010 and is expected to decrease
further to reach 95.8 by 2050.
35 per cent green electricity by 2020-2025
By 2020-2025 the country will produce 35 per
cent electricity through renewable resources.
One way of achieving this is through the
promotion of power generation by individual
households.
In this perspective, Solar Ernte-technik Ltd
(SETL), a subsidiary of Leal Group, has been
proposing since a year now the residential solar
photovoltaic (PV) and has registered up to now
more than 600 demands.
The advantage of the PV is that it works in
relation to the level of radiation in the atmosphere,
which means that even if there are clouds it will
produce electricity. In the non-residential sector,
SETL has already installed panels at Hindu Girls
College in Curepipe and IVTB in Port Louis. It
plans to reach clinics, schools and offices.
