Beach access restoration accelerates under Mauritius housing minister's land recovery plan

Shakeel Mohamed, appointed Minister of Housing and Lands in November 2024, has launched a systematic campaign to restore public access to Mauritius’s coastal domain, and the operational approach is markedly different from what came before.

The core problem is neither new nor subtle. Across multiple beach locations, private property owners, approximately 10,000 French retirees, luxury hotels, and unauthorized occupants of state land have installed gates, fences, vegetation barriers, and signage that effectively privatize public beaches. A 2018 inspection by the previous housing minister identified obstructed passages and “Private Property” signs at Pointe-d’Esny. Eight years later, Mohamed found the same obstacles still in place.

Rather than issuing circulars, Mohamed has conducted on-the-ground inspections at Pointe-d’Esny, La Preneuse, La Mivoie, and Tamarin. During these visits, he has mobilized multiple agencies simultaneously: police, the Special Mobile Force, the Beach Authority, district councils, and his ministry’s staff. At Pointe-d’Esny on August 27, 2026, his team identified barriers, gates, and plantations blocking access, ordered the Special Mobile Force to clear vegetation from one passage, and issued notices to residents who had encroached on public domain land. Property owners received seven to fifteen day deadlines to remove obstacles. If they refuse, authorities will proceed with removal and may revoke certain leases.

The ministry has also undertaken a mapping and inventory project to document all public beach access points. A digital map currently covers La Preneuse, La Mivoie, Tamarin, and Flacq, with plans to expand to other coastal regions. Signage is being installed to indicate access routes from roads and pathways back to public thoroughfares. The government is negotiating formal passage rights agreements to secure public access in sectors where such passages have become contested.

Mohamed has emphasized that reclaiming public domain does not mean eliminating rules. He has reiterated prohibitions on vehicles on beaches and condemned littering, unauthorized fires, noise disturbances, and certain commercial installations. The framing is one of coexistence rather than confrontation between private property owners and the public.

By contrast, the situation at Balaclava-Pointe aux Piments illustrates how far delivery has lagged behind legal entitlement. A citizen petition gathering over 2,000 signatures highlights Article 12 of a 2010 lease with Island Resort Limited, which allows the state to reclaim land for public interest purposes with notice and compensation. Signatories argue this mechanism could recover 8,020 square meters of public beach that was de-proclaimed in 2008 and incorporated into a hotel lease. They also note that public amenities promised in the 2010 lease, including toilets, parking, kiosks, benches, and plantations, remain absent sixteen years later, despite no precise timeline in the contract.

The ministry’s leverage is substantial. As the agency controlling significant state land management, it holds authority over leases, state domain occupations, and passage rights. This administrative power directly addresses the gap between legal entitlement and practical access that has persisted for years.

The government has begun drafting the State Lands (Public Access to the Coastal Domain) Regulations 2026, with public consultation planned. Mohamed’s initiative carries political weight within Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam’s administration, which took office in 2024 after a long period under the MSM government. The campaign delivers a clear message: the government defends ordinary citizens’ rights against undue privilege and appropriation.

Whether the Balaclava-Pointe aux Piments petition and others like it will translate into actual recovered beach access, complete with the amenities promised more than a decade ago, remains the practical test of how far this campaign can reach.