Madam Speaker, I am informed that the Morcellement Les Plaines de l'Hermitage and Pinewood were set up more than 20 years ago, whereas Highland Rose was set up around the year 2017. As regard to part (a) of the question, the Municipal Council of Vacoas-Phoenix has informed that no complaints have been received from the inhabitants of Morcellement Les Plaines de l'Hermitage and Pinewood regarding the scavenging service thereat. However, four complaints were registered at the Citizen Support Unit Portal from the inhabitants from Morcellement Highlands Rose on scavenging service and one on the removal of bulky waste. Madam Speaker, each household is provided with scavenging service once weekly either in the morning shift or in the afternoon shift. The distribution of scavenging works for refuse collection is undertaken on a zonal basis as follows – (i) Morcellement Les Plaines de Hermitage morning shift: Monday for zone one and Tuesday for the remaining zone, and in the afternoon shift, it is on Tuesday. (ii) Morcellement Highlands Rose morning shift: Thursday for one zone, Friday for another zone and Wednesday for the remaining zone. In the afternoon shift: Friday for one zone, Saturday for another zone and Wednesday for the remaining zone, and

45 (iii) Morcellement Pinewood, morning shift: Thursday for one zone, Friday for the remaining zone. Afternoon shift: Friday for one zone and Saturday on the remaining zone. Moreover, there should be a public holiday or any unforeseen circumstances, the Council ensures that the waste is collected from the household on the next day. Additionally, bulky waste collection is carried out twice yearly. The last exercise was conducted in some areas of aforementioned Morcellement on 05 and 06 October 2024. It is to be noted that Rs328,432.82 were provided to the Council for this exercise instead of the required amount of Rs1.8 m. Hence, the bulky waste collection would only be carried out for part of the Morcellement. The Council has already been given the green light to proceed with the second campaign of bulky waste collection which will be done in May 2025. Madam Speaker, what is the use of participating in so many international conferences on climate change and protection of the environment. Going as far as to pledge to save this planet but failing to put words into action, they could not even cater for a basic service like refuse collection – an absolute wastage of public funds. As a short-term measure, the Municipal Council of Vacoas-Phoenix has been requested to inform every household as to the exact date and time of waste collection. Additionally, I have requested my Ministry to instruct the Council to ensure that scavenging service is provided to the entire Morcellement on one day or, at the most, two days instead of splitting same into several days for different zones of the same Morcellement with effect of 01 May 2025. Madam Speaker as for part (b) of the question, I am apprised by the Council that Morcellement Les Plaines de Hermitage has six lots of green space of a total extent of 11,672 m². Highlands Rose has 13 lots of green space of a total extent of 50,000 m² whereas Pinewood has 10 lots of green space of the total extent of 55,700 m². Furthermore, there are no jogging tracks at Highlands Rose. However, there is one jogging track of 2 km at Morcellement Pinewood as well as one jogging track of 1 km at Les Plaines de Hermitage. My Ministry has instructed the Municipal Council of Vacoas-Phoenix to initiate immediate action for maintenance of all green spaces and jogging tracks within all the aforementioned morcellements and other morcellements as well. My Ministry has also

46 requested the Council to prepare a proper maintenance plan so as to effect cleaning and mowing of the above morcellements by in-house labour on a monthly basis. Madam Speaker, as for part (c) of the question, the Council has informed that it has not received any complaints regarding the street lighting at Morcellement Pinewood. As for Morcellement Les Plaines de Hermitage, the Council reported a loss of street lighting cables thereat to the Moka Police Station on 23 December 2021. Financial clearance was obtained from then Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development as far back as 26 July 2024 to the tune of Rs1.5 m. for the repair of the street lighting network. The materials have already been purchased. However, the street lighting cables have not been installed yet. Nevertheless, I wish to assure the House that this Government is here to work for the betterment of the inhabitants. The lost cables at Morcellement Les Plaines de Hermitage will be replaced by the in-house labour and the works are expected to start as from this month itself. Madam Speaker, for the Morcellement Highlands Rose, a survey was carried out in July 2024 whereby it was observed that around 300 street lanterns were defective. Upon investigation, it was found that most of them date back to more than eight years and have reached their lifetime. Hence, replacing them with new ones would be more cost-effective and even then, nothing was done by the former government to remedy the situation. This clearly depict a severe lack of responsibility and seriousness when it comes to initiating prompt action for the well-being of the community which is not surprising when it concerns the former government. Madam Speaker, I am now informed that the bidding documents are under preparation for the acquisition of 300 street lanterns at an estimated cost of Rs3 m. for Morcellement Highlands Rose. My Ministry has requested the Council expedite matters in a bid to resolve this issue as early as possible.

(Interruptions)

Thank you, Minister. Are you happy with this? Very happy? I have got three minutes left. Ms Anquetil! Question and short answer from Minister. NTC – RETIREMENT BENEFIT PLAN – FINANCIAL SITUATION