Port Louis — The government wants to be quick in creating the country's new administrative capital. If everything goes according to plan, it will be ready to "lay the foundation stone of this huge project by the end of the year", reveals a source involved in the implementation of the project. Highlands could well become one of the most important towns of this country earlier than expected.

"The transaction adviser has been recruited," the same source says. It will be responsible for validating the initial feasibility study and will also be the one to prepare the document for the procurement of a private developer. The Indian company Crisil Infrastructure Advisory - a subsidiary of the American firm Standard and Poor's - will be responsible for that.

The shift of Highlands - from village to administrative capital - is one of the rare projects that has been the object to a political consensus. The former government was the one to launch the idea; the present one appears determined to implement it. The 2,500 arpents of lands purchased by the previous government in the Illovo Deal of 2001 will be used to establish the new town.

A delegation from the Board of Investment (BOI) will be in Cannes next week to vaunt the merits of this new pole of development the new administrative capital of the country. The BOI and its 50 property developers who will be part of the Mauritian delegation will seize the opportunity of the Marché International des Professionnels de l'Immobilier to introduce the model of the town to the potential investors.

The minister of Finance, Rama Sithanen, hinted at the great attention the government intended to give to the Highlands project at his end-of-year press conference last December.

"We will have to give a new impulsion to the start of new growth sectors like the new town of Highlands.".

In fact, even if the project is expected to start at the end of 2008, the work shall be carried out over about ten years. The project is intended to take a lot of time because everything is to be created - from buildings to roads. The residential, commercial and leisure infrastructure will need Rs 3 billion investment.

It is becoming increasingly important to adopt a policy of decentralization because Port-Louis has obviously become too busy. For the architect Henri Loo, the creation of this new 'capital' is a "great idea that will help a lot to reduce the problems of road congestion in Port-Louis". The new town will first of all help reduce the traffic jams every morning and afternoon thanks to a number of ministries and government departments which would move there. A source suggests that the departments and ministries moving to Highlands should be known by the end of this month, at latest by the beginning of April.

Besides the official departments and the residential and commercial areas, Highlands will also accommodate Bagatelle Dam that is expected to help the water supply in the capital with a waterfront - like the popular ones in Port-Louis and Mahebourg - around.

Highlands will also become the cradle of the famous "knowledge hub". This will enable to extend and delocalise the University of Mauritius, the University of Technology and to set up university campuses. However the same architect also warned: "The best ideas are totally worthless if there is no implementation. The development must be made through phases and according to real needs. This should not become a ghost-town."

The recruitment of the transaction adviser should ensure that the project is viable. After validating the initial feasibility study and preparing the documents for the procurement of a private developer, the invitations for tenders should be launched - in April or May according to initial plans. The "winner" will become the Master Developer, which is the main firm responsible for the development of the site