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The Mauritius Yellow Pages News - Sand Extraction To Cease This Year |
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Mauritius News in French and English |
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| Sand Extraction To Cease This Year | ||||||
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Posted to the web February 28, 2001 |
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February 24, 2001 - Port Louis, Mauritius, Indian Ocean |
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Mauritian Deputy Prime minister Paul Berenger told sand quarry workers Friday at a meeting in Port Louis that sand extraction would cease soon. The reason for the move, he said, was that the activity was causing serious damages to the coastal environment. He cited several reports that underlined the damages caused by sand extraction: depletion of corals, rise in muddy waters, lagoon and beach destabilisation, among others. "As soon as the Council of Ministers gives its approval, this activity will have to cease in six month," he said. Berenger added that all the people concerned would be compensated for the loss of this activity, and a recruitment programme would be set up to help the 1,200 quarry workers and 310 boat owners to find jobs elsewhere. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, some 800,000 tonnes of coral sand was being extracted from the lagoons yearly for years. "Today, it was reduced to 400,000 tonnes annually," he added. Some quarry workers told Berenger that they would stop the practice as soon as they received compensation. "Give us our compensation and we'll stop extracting sand from the lagoon," worker Regis Vardapanaiken said. Others, however, asked for a reduction in the volume of sand extracted from the lagoon from seven to three tonnes daily so that they could continue the sand-quarrying business.
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