5-year development plan for the outer islands

The development plan stipulates IDC’s priorities and targets for the next five years with details of existing services, the current state of the islands and future plans.
Speaking to the press, IDC’s Chief Executive Officer, Glenny Savy said that the main objective for the next five years is to establish infrastructure on the islands of Providence and Cosmoledo which are currently inhabited.
“Our priority is to build an airfield on Providence. The island is inhabited since cyclone Bondo struck in 2006 causing significant damage. There has always been to have a runway on Providence but IDC did not have the financial resources for such a project. The sand composition on Providence is extremely fine and thus we need to have a hard surface,” explained Mr. Savy.
The project is expected to be completed by June 2019 at a cost of R14 million. The government has contributed R5 million towards the project, while IDC will finance the remaining R9 million. 
Once the airfield is complete other infrastructure will be established on the island.
A second island which IDC is proposing to develop is Cosmoledo which will also be equipped with a runway and certain infrastructure.
“Every island is quite different. There are islands under our responsibility which we have decided to keep in its natural state. For instance, Farquhar is a group of islands and we only plan to develop one while the others will be left in their natural state,” Mr. Savy said.
He added that some islands are ideal for agriculture, others for tourism purposes while others are most suited to aqua-culture.
IDC has already drawn up four land use plans for Coetivy, Desroches, Poivre and Farquhar detailing what activities will take place on each island. In addition, IDC will tender out some of the work to the private sector.
​“Individuals and companies in the private sector who may be interested in developing the islands or undertaking activities there such as tourism, agriculture or aqua-culture will have an opportunity to do so.”