Monorail project on track
President James Michel has time and again urged Seychellois to take up some of the opportunities that are available in the drive to move Seychelles into the new age.
One of the projects currently in the planning stage by Seychellois entrepreneur Barry Laine is the monorail project called Anse Royale Express announced in 2009.
The development of Ile Aurore and Ile Perseverance will create 8000 more residents of whom at least 70% if not more will require to commute to and from Victoria. This will place an extremely heavy traffic load on the Glacis/English River road which is already very congested during peak hours.
The monorail is a Mass Transit Railway (MTR) found in most developed countries of the world and can move 360 people comfortably seated in four carriages per journey and this is of prime importance to welcome the arrival of the monorail. It is a private venture working closely with government and the people of Seychelles will receive a revenue stream from Anse Royale Express Ltd for leasing the land for the stations and giving right-of-way (way leave) above the road and alongside the new bypass for the guide beam (railway line).
It is planned that the first station, Anse Etoile Station and Depot will be located adjacent to the fish market in Anse Etoile which will serve Anse Etoile and Ile Aurore commuters and provide “Park & Ride” facility.
Then the next stop will be Ile Perseverance Station, which will serve commuters from Ile Perseverance, Ile Du Port and the surrounding main land, then to Victoria.
Victoria Station will be located close to the Victoria bus terminal with an overhead walkway between the two and the monorail will “push-pull” between Anse Etoile and Victoria or “go through” to the next station which will be the Roche Caiman Station. A suitable site has been identified close to the sports complex that will serve commuters from Roche Caiman, Mont Fleuri, Plaisance and when there are events at the sports complex.
Then the monorail will travel on to Providence Station to serve the large working population in Providence before it winds its way to the International Airport Station.
Planning is also under way to take the monorail to Anse Aux Pins Station then to Anse Royale Station and Depot, connecting our two towns.
It is envisaged that all planning issues will be resolved in 2012 and construction can start in January 2013 and Phase 1 from Anse Etoile to Victoria will be completed by January 2015, and Phase 2 from Victoria to the Airport by July 2015 and Phase 3 from Airport to Anse Royale by July 2017.
This is a “For Seychellois by Seychellois” project and Seychellois will be given every opportunity to invest in the project.
The vehicle for Seychellois participation will be the newly created Seychellois Mutual Investment Fund (SEYVEST). The shares of the monorail will also be traded on the new Seychelles Stock Exchange expected to be in operation by then. Any shortfall will be met by overseas investments.
The cost of the monorail is calculated to be US $45m from Anse Etoile to the Airport and a further US $18m to take the monorail to Anse Royale under Phase 3.
Bright future
The future for Seychelles looks very good if we open our minds to developing our country because already the monorail project has spawned a number of new business ventures. It is planned that the Victoria Station building will provide parking facility on the ground floor, the monorail station will be on the first floor and three more floors will house the new Financial Centre for Dealers and Traders to trade in Financial Services across the world connected to the new fibre optic cable coming in from Dar es Salaam and the new Seychelles Stock Exchange. On the fifth floor we will have a Call Centre where our young men and women will deal with international calls on a 24-hour basis in a 150 position Call Centre.
This is not all: the monorail has also brought into our grasp the creation of a Technology Park that is planned to be located on three floors at the Providence Station. Seychellois technicians working in the Technology Park will carry Research & Development alongside the big boys of high tech industries who are waiting for the opportunity to come to Seychelles. This will put the minds of our young generation to work on building Seychelles into a modern Sovereign State, self-sufficient and self-reliant with a vibrant economy.
The justification for the monorail is very easy and the advantages are many folds. The monorail project is based on a number of studies carried out by SPTC, then a feasibility study by MSC Transport and Planning 2005, then a feasibility study by GIBB Consulting in 2007 and a Physical Market Survey carried out in 2011 with passengers at the bus terminal and with drivers at road entry points into Victoria by staff of The Academy of High Performance, a specialist marketing and market survey company. The various studies and the physical market survey found, inter alia, that:
1. We do not have a great deal of road expansion land
2. The monorail offers strong safety features and low operating costs
3. Traffic volume will exceed road capacity by 2015
4. By 2020 traffic will increase by 50%
5. 55% of bus passengers said they stood throughout their journey
6. 64% said buses were uncomfortable even the new ones
7. 59% were lone drivers
8. 97% said driving was tiring
9. 89% said roads were getting more congested
10. 75% of motorists said they would use the monorail
Environmental considerations
The monorail is pollution free, it runs on electricity to be supplied by PUC, it is fast and silent and has a high passenger load. It uses less real estate than any other Mass Transit Railway (MTR), it saves on fossil fuel and there has not been a recorded monorail accident anywhere in the world. In Seychelles there is no need for tunnelling and building of big bridges, it is extremely environmental friendly. It creates no waste products and has no detrimental adverse effect on our environment. The concrete pillars holding the guide beams (rail) will be garnished with plants, flowers and creepers to provide an aesthetically pleasing outlook which will be in keeping with the local environment.
Contributed by Barry Laine FCIM, FInst SMM, MCMI, MBSCH
Chief Executive
Anse Royale Express Ltd,
“The Wishing Well”
Anse Des Genets,
Mahe, Seychelles, Tel: 00248 2515616 , Fax: 00248 4374477
Email: principal@academyofhighperformance.sc
Source: NATION 3-23-12