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Mauritius asks India to develop remote Agalega Islands into tourist resort

NEW DELHI, Nov.28, 2006 (UNI)

Mauritius has offered India a long-term lease on a pair of remote islands 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) from any Indian shore in hopes that they can be developed into a resort for rich tourists, a news report said Saturday.
A Mauritian government official confirmed that an offer has been made for New Delhi to take control of the Agalega Islands, The Times of India reported. The islands, located closer to Madagascar than to India, are 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of the small island nation of Mauritius.
It wasn’t immediately known what Mauritius would get out of the deal, but the newspaper suggested that the upgrading of an existing airstrip into a full-fledged airport and development of a port were on a list of hoped-for infrastructure improvements.
The cost of building resorts and hotels on the isolated islands could be considerable, and Mauritius wants the islands’ 70 square kilometers (27 square miles) to be developed for premium tourists, the newspaper said.
At present, only the Outer Island Development Corp. of Mauritius can organize trips to Agalega and people can either travel by boat or fly for three hours from Mauritius.
Details of the offer, made during negotiations for a trade pact between the two governments, were still being discussed, the newspaper said.