Reply: Making the report of the Land Drainage Master Plan public is a long outstanding issue which has been delayed by the previous government. Since the finalisation of the report in May 2022, the then government agreed to the proposals contained in the Land Drainage Master Plan report in July 2022. An Inter-

132 Ministerial Committee was set up under the chair of the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism. The committee was supposed to look into all the implications in terms of review of legislation, specific conditions to be imposed in relation to construction in ‘No Go Zone’ or ‘No Expansion Zone’, amongst others. Following the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Committee, the Land Drainage Authority was requested to come up with a revised report summarising the proposals contained in the Master Plan, which excluded all recommendations relating to ‘No Go Zones’ and ‘No Expansion Zones’. The previous government took note of an adapted version of the Master Plan on 02 December 2022 wherein it was agreed that yet another Inter-Ministerial Committee be set up. The committee under the chair of the then Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Local Government and Disaster Risk Management was tasked to look into issues that were cropping up with the implementation of the recommendations in the plan and come up with measures to address same. This committee did not meet even once. It was only in May 2024 that the previous government decided that the Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism would meet to determine which part of the plan could be released to the public. It is to be deplored, once again, that the said Inter-Ministerial Committee never met, in spite of the seriousness of the issue. 1.5 million Euro has been spent for the preparation of the Master Plan which caters for measures, projects, recommendations to not only mitigate the effects of flooding and prevent destruction of properties including buildings, vehicles amongst others, but also most important preventing loss of life. Here we can see the laxism and lightness with which critical issues were being taken by the previous government. This is least to say a care free and ‘fiche pas mal’ attitude adopted by the previous Ministers including the then Deputy Prime Minister and the then Vice Prime Minister who were trusted to chair the two Inter-Ministerial Committees. These two Inter-Ministerial Committees set up to look into the issues were unproductive and had no outcome. This is yet another blatant example of how the previous government was functioning under the leadership of the previous Prime Minister.

133 Last year, even before the elections, L’Alliance du Changement announced in its electoral manifesto, that the Land Drainage Master Plan report will be made public which was reaffirmed in the Government Programme as at paragraph 60. As a responsible government, Cabinet took note of the recommendations of the plan on 07 February 2025 following which we have agreed that a Technical Committee comprising of various Ministries be set up to review the Master Plan prior to the document being made public. The Technical Committee which has already started it assignment since 14 March 2025 has been allocated a timeframe of three months to submit its report. COTEAU RAFFIN, LE MORNE, BAMBOUS – IRREGULAR WATER SUPPLY – REMEDIAL MEASURES