Seychelles Minister Adam leads delegation to L’Union Estate at La Digue

Minister Jean-Paul Adam led a Ministerial delegation to L’Union Estate at La Digue last Saturday to see the progress of works and to discuss with Mr.

Minister Jean-Paul Adam led a Ministerial delegation to L’Union Estate at La Digue last Saturday to see the progress of works and to discuss with Mr. Keddy Nibourette, the CEO of the Estate, about the plan of action for the estate that had been presented to the government and accordingly approved.

Minister Jean-Paul Adam was accompanied by Minister Alain St.Ange, Minister Michael Benstrong, and Mr. Ainsley Constance.

The Ministerial delegation started looking at the sketch for works on the L’Union Plantation House and discussed the proposed use of the house once the works are completed to ensure it remains an asset of La Digue that will be working for La Digue. A walk was taken around the granite boulder sitting at the back of the plantation house and where the estate’s giant tortoises and the La Digue terrapins are penned in. This granite boulder is today also listed as a national monument, as it remains the single biggest stand-alone granite boulder, and it will be opened for visitors to climb to the top of the boulder which provides an uninterrupted view of La Digue and the islands around it.

The vanilla plantation was visited, and the three Ministers all made it a point to congratulate the team at L’Union Estate for what was described as an example for anyone wanting to help Seychelles revive its vanilla plantations. That was followed by a tour of the boat yard, the restaurant, and the most-photographed and popular beach at La Source D’Argent.

Work on the new roof of the restaurant was ongoing when Minister Jean-Paul Adam and his delegation visited the restaurant, and in the discussions with the restaurant management, it was agreed that new toilet facilities would be constructed for use by those eating at the restaurant. Arts & crafts and the local fruit & juice kiosks at La Source D’Argent were also visited, as well as the wedding kiosk. The CEO was encouraged to continue to ensure that the management of these kiosks remained in line with the approved management plans of the estate.

The boat shed, the L’Union Estate jetty, and its adjoining buildings, as well as the coconut oil mill and its calorifer (drying house) were looked at and plans in place discussed.

“The works being undertaken at L’Union Estate was seen as a great improvement on what was seen just months ago. We shall now have an information note prepared for the Council of Ministers and discuss new ideas to help make L’Union Estate more financially independent,” said Minister Adam.

The estate will also have an artisanal village right at its entrance and plots for agricultural development will soon be put on tender.

The three ministers agreed that the visit to L’Union Estate was well worth it, as the discussions on site enabled the management on site to discuss their own challenges and receive feedback from their parent ministry.

Seychelles is a founding member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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