Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Port-Louis Victoria Station will be reopened to the public on 24 November 2021. In that context, a site visit was conducted, this afternoon, by the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Alan Ganoo, the CEO of Metro Express Ltd (MEL), Dr Das Mootanah, and other stakeholders, to assess arrangements made in view of the reopening phase scheduled for next Wednesday.
In a statement, the Minister highlighted that MEL and the contractor have respected the deadline and therefore Port-Louis Victoria Station, which had ceased its operations some months back, will restart its operations.
This will allow commuters from the region of Plaines Wilhems to get off at the Station as was the case before, he stated. Mr Ganoo expressed gratitude to MEL, the contractor and all stakeholders for having respected the deadline.
According to him, the other Metro Express works that are ongoing at Quatre Bornes, Phoenix and Curepipe are all being smoothly executed and are on target. Before December next year, all works in Curepipe will be completed, he further underscored.
As regards the platform vis-à-vis Caudan, in Port-Louis, presently under construction, Mr Ganoo indicated that these works are expected to be completed before June 2022.
For the Minister, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the current prevailing situation and all things considered, the Metro Express works are on target and before December 2022, works will be completed at Curepipe.
Moreover, Mr Ganoo pointed out that Government is exploring the possibility to allow commuters use the overpass connecting the Victoria Urban Terminal (VUT) and the Port-Louis Victoria Station in the near future.
He recalled that VUT is a private sector project and there might be a soft opening in December 2021, but irrespective of the opening of the VUT, the authorities will initiate discussions to allow commuters use the overpass to access the city centre of Port-Louis.
As regards sanitary measures in public transport, the Minister emphasised that safety measures on public buses will be reinforced. He appealed to all Mauritians and commuters to wear their face masks properly and indicated that bus operators have been instructed to put hand sanitisers in buses and ensure the cleanliness of their vehicles.
Mr Ganoo further called upon commuters to respect social distancing on bus stations. The authorities, announced the Minister, are envisaging to set up a mechanism to ensure that all public and private buses that alight on bus stations are disinfected and cleaned.
This exercise will be centralised in the central stations of Port-Louis, Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes and Curepipe, he added. For his part, Dr Mootanah stated that the temporary Caudan Light Rail Station will be decommissioned.
Trial running is still being executed and as from 05 December 2021 additional LRVs will be used normally on the two tracks of the Port-Louis Victoria Station, he said.
He also reassured that all sanitary precautions will be enforced on the LRVs. Tests and trial running have been successful executed from the Port-Louis Victoria Station to Quatre-Bornes Central.
Subsequently, the Port-Louis Victoria Station will be reopened to the public. The shuttle service to/from the Caudan Arts Centre and Port-Louis City Centre (Air Mauritius Building) will no longer be in operation.
It is recalled that the Port-Louis Victoria Station had temporarily ceased its operations since August 2021 as Metro-related works had to be undertaken in the Port-Louis area. Consequently, a new Caudan Light Rail Station had been set up 300m away from the Port-Louis Victoria Station.
For More News And Analysis About Mauritius Follow Africa-Press
