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Residents of Anse a la Mouche demand an urgent review of hotel project in their district
Andrea R.
started this petition to
The President of the Republic of Seychelles
Dear Mr President,
Reviewing the ‘Anse a la Mouche Hotel Development’ Project
We the residents of Anse a la Mouche and other concerned persons in Seychelles wish to express our strong objections to the hotel development project as proposed by the company ‘Anse a la Mouche Property Development Ltd’ which has leased Parcel C7983 at Anse a la Mouche for the purpose. In addition to the points raised in the scoping report made by a number of CEPS NGO (Sustainability for Seychelles (S4S); Terrestrial Restoration Action Society of Seychelles (TRASS); Centre d’Acceuil de La Rosiere; Plant Conservation Action Group; Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS).
members, and submitted to the Department of Environment on 22 September 2019, we wish to state that this project is ill-conceived and should be reviewed before the proposed road diversion, due to start in March 2021 begins, for the following reasons:
1. The hotel site will destroy yet another large section of the remaining 10% of wetlands left on Mahe, in spite of Seychelles being a signatory to the Ramsar Convention since 2005.
2. The project proposal provided 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.
3. Government leased prime land – Parcel C7983 - at minimal value for 99 years: 813,243 square meters at SR75 per square meter. At the time the lease was signed in 2019 the rate was SR1,200 to SR1,500 per square meter for land on Mahe. In view of land shortages faced by local people, this is scandalous.
4. The project is presented as a “mixed-use development” but the focus is only on ‘phase one’ – ie. the building of the hotel. From the various presentations made (including the EIA meeting of August 2019) the rest may or may not happen in the distant future, depending on how the hotel fares.
5. The project will result in considerable restrictions to public access of about one third of the Anse a la Mouche beach.
6. The shoreline section – Parcel C6626 – is essential for the coastal protection, especially in the face of sea-level rise, and should not have been leased for beach ‘development’.
7. The proposed road diversion, to enable the hotel to have immediate sea frontage, will split the community into two sections, and this is unacceptable to residents.
8. The proponents of this project, the UAE-based Albwardy Investment, also owns the two Four Seasons Hotels (at Petit Anse and Desroches Island) and Mango House at Anse aux Poules Bleu. We have to ask: How much is enough?
9. Considering the size of the property, it is very conceivable for the developers to review their proposal and consider building their hotel in a more sustainable manner, possibly on a smaller scale, without destroying the wetlands, causing a road diversion and depriving local people of valuable land.
10. A more sustainable alternative would be to use existing ‘abandoned’ hotel sites, of which there are at least six.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fact that a second meeting for the EIA process did not take place as required, and the ‘Alternative proposals’ made in our attached statement, we the undersigned request that the Government reviews this project proposal and takes into consideration all the points raised above and elaborated in the attached statement, before giving final permission for the project to go ahead.
We thank you.
Reviewing the ‘Anse a la Mouche Hotel Development’ Project
We the residents of Anse a la Mouche and other concerned persons in Seychelles wish to express our strong objections to the hotel development project as proposed by the company ‘Anse a la Mouche Property Development Ltd’ which has leased Parcel C7983 at Anse a la Mouche for the purpose. In addition to the points raised in the scoping report made by a number of CEPS NGO (Sustainability for Seychelles (S4S); Terrestrial Restoration Action Society of Seychelles (TRASS); Centre d’Acceuil de La Rosiere; Plant Conservation Action Group; Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS).
members, and submitted to the Department of Environment on 22 September 2019, we wish to state that this project is ill-conceived and should be reviewed before the proposed road diversion, due to start in March 2021 begins, for the following reasons:
1. The hotel site will destroy yet another large section of the remaining 10% of wetlands left on Mahe, in spite of Seychelles being a signatory to the Ramsar Convention since 2005.
2. The project proposal provided 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.
3. Government leased prime land – Parcel C7983 - at minimal value for 99 years: 813,243 square meters at SR75 per square meter. At the time the lease was signed in 2019 the rate was SR1,200 to SR1,500 per square meter for land on Mahe. In view of land shortages faced by local people, this is scandalous.
4. The project is presented as a “mixed-use development” but the focus is only on ‘phase one’ – ie. the building of the hotel. From the various presentations made (including the EIA meeting of August 2019) the rest may or may not happen in the distant future, depending on how the hotel fares.
5. The project will result in considerable restrictions to public access of about one third of the Anse a la Mouche beach.
6. The shoreline section – Parcel C6626 – is essential for the coastal protection, especially in the face of sea-level rise, and should not have been leased for beach ‘development’.
7. The proposed road diversion, to enable the hotel to have immediate sea frontage, will split the community into two sections, and this is unacceptable to residents.
8. The proponents of this project, the UAE-based Albwardy Investment, also owns the two Four Seasons Hotels (at Petit Anse and Desroches Island) and Mango House at Anse aux Poules Bleu. We have to ask: How much is enough?
9. Considering the size of the property, it is very conceivable for the developers to review their proposal and consider building their hotel in a more sustainable manner, possibly on a smaller scale, without destroying the wetlands, causing a road diversion and depriving local people of valuable land.
10. A more sustainable alternative would be to use existing ‘abandoned’ hotel sites, of which there are at least six.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fact that a second meeting for the EIA process did not take place as required, and the ‘Alternative proposals’ made in our attached statement, we the undersigned request that the Government reviews this project proposal and takes into consideration all the points raised above and elaborated in the attached statement, before giving final permission for the project to go ahead.
We thank you.
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