EX-CHA / EDC HOUSING ESTATES – ASBESTOS THREAT – ACTION PLAN (4.14 p.m.)

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, with your permission, I wish to make a statement on a matter of pressing national importance: the persistent threat of legacy asbestos – a known cause of asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma – in the EDC houses built on ex-CHA estates after cyclones Alix and Carol in the early sixties. This is not a new problem. It has been documented for a quarter of a century by the Addison assessment (2001/2002), the National Action Plan (2002), Dr. Sibartie Report (2006), the National OSH Profile (2009), the Truth and Justice Commission Report (2011), the Communiqué of 22 July 2015, the Ombudsperson for Children Annual Report (2017/2018). Our legislative framework prevents new exposure; what it has not done, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, is resolve the legacy. The State’s own records are not consistent. Depending on the source and the year, the initial stock has been reported as 3,013 or 3,113 units; the units still contain asbestos as 1,453 or 1,560; and units dismantled since 2015 as 218 or 228. I will not stand here, in this august Assembly and pretend otherwise. The discrepancy in figures is itself one of the hurdles we must overcome, and it is one of the reasons Statistics Mauritius has been tasked to deliver a reconciled, updated national picture. What is not in doubt is the order of magnitude: well over a thousand families still live under asbestos roofs, and progress over the last decade has been unacceptably slow. On 10 April 2026, Cabinet established an Inter-Ministerial Committee, which I chair, comprising of my colleagues the hon. Ministers of Environment, National Infrastructure, and Health and Wellness, together with the Junior Minister of Local Government, who was present and who represented his Ministry. The Committee held its first substantive meeting on 06 May 2026 at my Ministry, with senior officials from Finance, Housing and Lands, Environment, National Infrastructure, Health, Local Government, and Statistics Mauritius. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I make this statement today not to announce a finished plan, but to demonstrate that a process has begun and to be transparent about where it stands. Three hurdles have, for decades, blocked decisive action. The first is the data discrepancy I have just acknowledged. It will be resolved by a single reconciled inventory. The second is “lakaz zeritye”, the complex inheritance arrangements that stall any intervention. A simplified ownership pathway is being examined, in consultation with the Attorney General’s office, including the constitutional avenues available to cut through prohibitive red tape where strictly necessary. The third is the rehousing eligibility constraint: current policy disqualifies those who own immovable property, unjustly excluding the very families trapped in toxic homes on their own land. We are designing a voluntary Land-for-Housing Exchange: the State takes over the affected plot, transparently and independently valued, in exchange for a clean social housing unit. For households who prefer to reconstruct on their own land, two financial options are under examination; channelled credit through the Mauritius Housing Company, or a direct grant per household. Replacement units would be standardised at approximately 49 m², with a monthly rental allowance during a targeted nine-month replacement cycle, indicative reconstruction cost of Rs2.5 to Rs3 million per unit. Intervention will be evidence-based. The Mauritius Standards Bureau has been engaged to conduct airborne asbestos testing on an initial sample of 35 houses. Statistics Mauritius will shortly submit its comprehensive updated survey. The Ministry of National Infrastructure will undertake structural assessments. The Ministry of Local Government will expedite legal notices on abandoned units. On finance, the historical record shows Rs800 million provisioned in the 2022/23 Budget, Rs40 million in 2023/24, and Rs100 million under the Casting of Roof Slabs Scheme in 2024/25 but consolidated outturn figures across agencies have not been readily available. A dedicated programme code, ring-fenced sub-heads, quarterly reconciliation, and independent audits will have to be put in place. Public money spent on saving lives must be traceable to the last rupee. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me be candid with the House about the sequencing. Everything I have outlined depends on three sequential clearances – • financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance, • legal clarification, in particular from the Attorney-General on the Compulsory Intervention Protocol or on the ownership pathway, and thereafter, • Cabinet approval of the consolidated package. The immediate milestones are these – • By end of May 2026, this month: preliminary Statistics Mauritius results and MSB airborne testing results received; the Committee reconvenes. • In the short term: a reconciled national inventory published; the Attorney- General’s opinion obtained; legal notices served on dangerous abandoned units; the dedicated financial programme code activated. • In the medium and long term: a national communication campaign; the formalisation of the Land-for-Housing Exchange and the financial options; phased dismantling and reconstruction; and a long-term health surveillance. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, je crois en une politique de transparence. I will not promise the House what I cannot yet deliver, and I will not hide from this House the dependencies, the discrepancies, or the difficulties. What I can say with certainty is that a process has begun, that it is structured, that it is anchored in evidence, in law, and in fiscal discipline. I, therefore, undertake, before this House, to keep the National Assembly fully informed at each stage, once the airborne testing results are received, once Statistics Mauritius reports, once the Attorney General has opined, once Finance has cleared, and once Cabinet has decided. The health and dignity of every Mauritian family living under these roofs is non-negotiable, and the era of reports that gather dust is over. Thank you.