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The new highway connecting the capital Antananarivo and the coastal region of Toamasina will allow a travel time of 3 hours instead of the current 12. The project, due to start in December 2022, should be suspended due to serious environmental problems.
“Building the future without sacrificing rural communities and the environment” is the report’s conclusion Communiqué About the current highway project and the concerns of civil society and the rural population. About forty associations expressed their deep concern for the future of the forest and the surrounding population.
Madagascar’s last remaining forests
Civil society recalls that the construction project will endanger 10% of the original forest. A coalition of forty non-governmental organizations is launching an appeal to protect the dense and humid forests of the Ankenihenni-Zahmena corridor.
The current highway route passes through 370,000 hectares of protected forest, which is a vital water reservoir for the large valley of Alaotra and the rice-growing plains around Toamasina. Remember that Madagascar Conservation Areas received $8.8 million from the World Bank for its carbon sequestration efforts until the end of 2023. In addition, the press release emphasizes that access to the CAZ corridor will encourage slash-and-burn cultivation, various forms of trafficking, and illegal mining.
Issues that go against the government’s firm will
In addition to the threat to forest and biodiversity conservation, the press document supports its claims on the following grounds:
- food insecurity and its impact on social well-being;
- Climate resilience (Madagascar is one of the five countries most threatened by global warming);
- Good governance and compliance issues (to date, the design and implementation of the project has not been put out to tender and, according to the sacked National Environment Office director Rija Herisolo Rakotoson, no environmental permit has been issued).
Earlier this month, the head of state visited the site and reviewed the major challenges of radically transforming the country’s economic and tourism landscape, promising to complete the task by the end of his term in office at the end of 2027.
The future four-lane axis is intended to replace a degraded national highway: of the total 260 km of the route, the Egyptian company Samcrete has already built 30 km.
For his part, the former Minister of the Environment confirmed that biodiversity will be protected. Max Andonirina Fontaine reassured the public by changing the route, that is, by building a tunnel or a bridge.
The presidential highway construction project has been widely discussed on social networks since it was announced. Many internet users criticized Madagascar’s ability to build its first major highway, while the country’s presidential website praised it.
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