Mauritian Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth says that an oil storage terminal project he launched on Tuesday will propel the country into the next phase of development and will contribute to transforming the island into a full-fledged maritime hub in the years to come.
Speaking at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the Mer Rouge Oil Storage Terminal (MOST) project, Sir Anerood said it was a testimony of the commitment to implement the Government’s 2015-2019 programme and the Vision 2030 Economic Mission Statement which aim, among others, to transform Port-Louis into a leading regional petroleum hub.
The MOST project is a joint venture between the State Trading Corporation (STC) and four international petroleum companies present in Mauritius – Engen, Indian Oil, Total and Vivo Energy.
The construction of the petroleum terminal will cost 600 million Mauritian rupees and will come into operation at the end of 2017. It will comprise five tanks of 5,000 metric tones each. Three tanks will be used for storage of petrol and the rest for gas oil. (US$1 = 35.00 rupees)
Speaking about port transformation, the Prime Minister pointed out that the port had embarked on a strategy comprising the injection of public sector investments of over 8 billion Mauritian rupees for a state-of-the-art port infrastructure.
“Our country is strategically located in the South-South trade route with over 30,000 vessels passing through its maritime zone annually. The bunker segment has experienced a sustained average growth of 7% per annum since 2004 to reach some 280,000 metric tones in 2015. This volume represents roughly 6% of the current regional demand, estimated at 5 million metric tones. Our target is to capture around 20% of the current regional demand by increasing the bunker volume sales at Port-Louis to one million metric tones in the medium term,” Sir Anerood said.
For his part, Mauritian Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection Minister Ashit Kumar Gungah said that the petroleum sector worldwide evolved constantly and very fast. “The price of petroleum products changes practically every day and features among the major determinants of world economy,” he added.
Mr. Gungah underlined that as a Small Island Developing State and a non-oil producer, Mauritius was more vulnerable. Hence there was the need to be prepared to face the challenges of the local economy and the international uncertainty in the petroleum sector through implementation of the MOST project that would guarantee a more comfortable storage capacity.
