Transport practice and policy in Mauritius

Like many developing nations over the last twenty years or so, the small, isolated, densely populated, developing Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has undergone – and continues to undergo – a revolution in the way its society lives and works. From a transport perspective, the case of Mauritius is interesting because it exhibits many of the transport problems faced in other countries, such as worsening congestion, air pollution and traffic accidents, but its transport planners have rather less time, experience and resources to develop a solution before the situation becomes critical, due to the faster pace of population, economic growth, and the lack of space. Further, while Mauritius is clearly a developing country, the future policy options currently being considered by the Government are perhaps better suited to a western developed nation than to a less capital intensive country. This paper outlines the development of transport policy on the island to date, and suggests that Mauritius might like to look to models closer to home to see how to address its problems instead of looking to the West for its inspiration.