VICTORIA, Seychelles — Work to install rock armouring on Praslin’s coastline started on Wednesday and was completed earlier on Thursday at Anse Marie Louise, as part of efforts to protect the coast and address road degradation on the island. The installation follows a visit by President Wavel Ramkalawan on Tuesday, during which he inspected vulnerable sections of the Praslin coast and directed that mitigation work begin without delay. Further work to protect the coast of Anse Marie Louise and the removal of hazardous trees will also begin by the coming weekend.
The rock armouring works are part of a longer-running programme to stabilise the most exposed sections of the Praslin coastline, where erosion has been eating into the road reserve and threatening both the road itself and the properties along it. The decision to start with Anse Marie Louise reflects the urgency of the situation at that location, where the combination of sea exposure and unstable ground has made the road particularly vulnerable during the southeast monsoon. Work along Amitié Road towards Roche Corbiseau is ongoing, with a different team addressing that section.
President Ramkalawan’s Tuesday visit to Praslin was the catalyst for the accelerated timetable. The President toured several of the most affected sites and held brief on-the-spot discussions with the engineers and contractors before giving the direction to begin. The approach is in line with the government’s wider policy of responding to coastal erosion as a national priority, given the threat it poses to the road network, to public infrastructure, and to private property on the inhabited inner islands.
Rock armouring is one of the standard engineering responses to coastal erosion in Seychelles, used in combination with other measures such as vegetation management and, in some locations, beach nourishment. The technique involves placing large boulders along the most exposed sections of the shoreline to absorb wave energy and prevent further loss of land. The works on Praslin are being carried out by local contractors, with the materials sourced on the island where possible to keep costs and transport impacts down.
The removal of hazardous trees, which is scheduled to begin by the weekend, is a separate but related operation. Several trees along the affected sections of the Praslin coast have been identified as being at risk of falling, either because of root damage caused by the erosion or because of the general state of the vegetation. Removing them before the next major weather event is a precautionary measure intended to protect both road users and the properties below. The combination of the rock armouring and the tree removal is expected to significantly reduce the immediate risk to the Anse Marie Louise and Amitié Road areas for the remainder of the southeast monsoon season.
