African Commodity Exchange | Mauritius

On February 20th 2008, the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius licensed Financial Technologies of India to operate a commodities exchange in Mauritius. The operating company is called Global Board of Trade Ltd. Many institutions and those who write for this blog have been clamoring for years for Mauritius to set up a pan-African commodities exchange and an African Dollar Market. However, as of today in typical Mauritian fashion it hasn't been set up yet :( althought the press release claims it should be ready by Q3 of this year. That would be great timing since Commodities markets are in a bull-run right now, I truly hope in a few months we won't be saying that by the time the exchange comes on stream the commodities bubble is about to burst, the worst time to be starting up such an exchange. GBOT is supposed to be a commodities exchange at first and a multi-asset exchange later on,similar to the Multi Commodity Exchange of India, which is also operated by FTIL, and presumably similar to the Singapore Mercantile Exchange which just came on stream today developed by FTIL. This is what's planned according to FTIL.

The Commodity Exchange is slated to be the first pan-African, derivatives exchange and a gateway to serve the African continent. GBOT will be an electronic trading platform with its central matching engine connected by VSAT / internet to terminals of members in their own offices, in any part of the world. It will start operations with trade in commodity derivatives and subsequently, expand to include other asset classes such as equity, bonds, and currency derivatives as well as ‘exotic’ commodities such as carbon credits, and indices."

Pretty cool, the most difficult issue though will be getting traction in a very unsophisticated market. Those who would use the exchange are likely to be multinationals who could probably trade elsewhere. It will have to find a niche for itself, educate SME's on how to use forward contracts, and try to get a piece from some of the larger actors in the market, especially in the metals, oil, agriculture, and gemstones areas - there needs to be a political push with the African countries which possess such commodities to make this work.

From a more serious point of view, it will be interesting to see what the Governing Law provisions will look like, the FSC, something along the lines of the Courts of Mauritius have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute, claim, grievance, or controversy arising in connection with GBOT market contracts? What about enforcement and "no objection letters from overseas jurisdictions" don't know where the FSC and GBOT are on this front.

A good place for more general information: detailed, and basic.

An Urban Redevelopment Authority for Port Louis

Port Louis has been losing its glamor and is increasingly shunned by the government and developers. With new development projects and business parks being built outside the capital, ebene, rose belle, highlands, tianli, to name a few, PL is starting to lose it's status as the cultural, financial, and political center of Mauritius. PL today from a planning and Port Louisian perspective is a city of contrasts, from the colorful waterfront next to the port and the glitzy MT building, houses of parliament, chinatown, to the more residential areas of valet-pitot and pleine verte, to chickens and goats grazing on side of the street. Although PL has all the bells and whistles to be a world class international city it has suffered from an extreme lack of investment in both infrastructure and property development. The city has everything from a historic race track to a 17th century citadel, a bustling chinatown and financial district, dying cultural scenes and art scenes, decrepit colonial buildings, plazas, mosques, cathedrals, temples, a grand market, narrow streets, and parks, all surrounded by spectacular mountains and the Indian ocean. Port Louis has the foundation to grow organically unlike many of the planned (bland) development projects suggested by the government. It has a soul (ever so weak) and pulse (during the day at least), it has character, a feel, a vibe, in addition to 300 years of history. With the exodus of most of the middle class to the Rose-Hill, Vacois, Quatre-Bornes pan-handle, the residential areas of Port Louis have suffered with regard to property investment, maintenance and development of cultural sites and buildings, and any sensible planning or vision for the municipality.




Suggestions:

The Municipality of Port Louis in collaboration with the Government's development plans around Port Louis, mainly ebene, pailles, and now Riche Terre needs an Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). An Urban Redevelopment Authority would prepare long term strategic plans, as well as detailed local area plans, for physical development, and then co-ordinate and guide efforts to bring these plans to reality. Prudent land use planning has enabled small areas such as Singapore to enjoy strong economic growth and social cohesion. The Authority would need to take into consideration not just the current needs of the city, such as fixing a creaking infrastructure, road congestion, lack of investment, but more crucially a vision which will provide sufficient land for economic growth and future development in the long term. It would be tasked with the mission of making PL a great city to live, work, and play and paternering with the community to create a vibrant, sustainable and cosmopolitan city of distinction.

An Urban Redevelopment Authority would not only be involved in creating a vision for the city, it would also serve as an integrated institution controlling the sale of sites, conservation, development, control and co-ordination, transportation development, and creating and maintaining a vibrant residential and commercial property market.

A Concept Plan

Port Louis needs a broad, strategic, intensive, long term land use and transportation plan for the next ten years (which could be updated every 10 years or so) to guide Port Louis' physical development (re-development at first). First and foremost the development plan would need to focus on maintaining the city's status as the commercial hub and institutional hub of the nation, for instance updating the creaking infrastructure and developing a Mass Rapid Transit System - which is absolutely necessary, connecting the M1 corridor. Secondly, the concept plan would also need to map out a vision for Port Louis in the next 20 to 30 years based on a population scenario, there is ample room for mid-rise luxury apartment growth and further commercial property growth in the downtown core (des froise street area / caudan). The concept plan should be put together without delay after public consultation through focus groups, internet or sms feedback, public dialogues, and exhibitions. From a city of 147,00 in an area of 16 sq. mi. the population can easily increase to 250,000 with sensible planning in the next 10 years.

The vision should set out to develop Port Louis into a thriving world-class city in the 21st century and as the gateway to Africa.

Key suggestions:

- Introducing more mid-rise city living,

Using the limited space more efficiently whilst protecting the beauty of the mountains and views of the ocean for all. Architecturally eco-friendly and sensible, protecting the treasure of Mauritius it's environment, both from scenic and development point of view.

- Providing more new homes in familiar places

Whilst keeping in tune with some of the architectural marvels of Port Louis' history, colonial Mauritian style houses and gardens, rejuvenating classical Mauritian architecture whilst integrating modern materials, designs, and layouts.

- Offering more choices for recreation

More parks, and green space, especially smaller green spaces like in London, greening some of the squares and plazas perhaps, creating a modern shopping district / cultural district - something akin to Soho in New York, cafes, shops, art galleries, theaters. A great city ideally has two shopping / cultural areas, one where it's classical yet modern - Newburry street - Quincy Market in Boston, Soho in New York, Bond Street in London; and another area such as Times Square or Leicester Square. I would prefer the classical, since Caudan and other mall developments already exist and could evolve into something noisier.

- Allowing greater flexibility for businesses

Creating intelligent modern buildings, which are architecturally innovative and stimulating. Using building codes, setting benchmarks, involving the business community in integration of facilities and services.

- Establishing a global business centre

I feel we can have two, certainly Ebene is rivaling PL in this regard, however I feel the old business can still be in PL - merchant banks, insurance, financial services, corporate HQs, law firms, and the new economy can be in Ebene, BPO companies, Tech sector, Venture capitalists, Bio-Tech, start ups, etc. This would fit into the "clustering" concept which is often referred to.

- Building an extensive rail network

We used to have one, actually Mark Twain wrote his famous line while traveling on it, "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius." If we are going to increase our population of our space challenged island we will need to build one or walk. Little did we know that the same rail tracks Mark Twain was traveling on could be our only option of sustaining his famous quote. For PL an undergournd system connected to the M1 corridor would be preferable to save space.

- Developing a Marina bay - luxury mid/high rise residential area (An IBS)

Through expanding the Caudan waterfront or creating a new district with luxury mid-rise developments catering to both foreigners and Mauritians looking for high-end living, leisure attractions, greenery, town homes, hotels, views of the port, and waterfront. An Integrated Business Scheme, a mixed high density commercial and residential development area, bringing together different designs, concepts, ideas; connecting and enhancing the core of the city.


- Focusing on identity and preserving our land (especially our beaches) and environment.

The benefits of planned developments have yet to be realized yet many countries and cities including Mauritius (IRS) continue to undertake them presumably because they can rapidly change the landscape. Yet the long term ramifications of such planned cities or developments compared to organic growth couldn't be more antinoymic. Port Louis needs to enhance, cherish, and preserve it's identity - modern development needs to be woven into the existing fabric of the city and it's residents. We must also preserve public spaces such as access to our beaches, waterfront, mountain tracks, and the most scenic areas should be accessible/democratized (build promenades, make the waterfront area a slim waterline park).

Crucially, the URA must maintain global best practices. A city and public which is aware of design quality and the demand for good design in the built environment would create a new niche for Mauritius by encouraging a more vibrant professional design community which could expand in the region and the country as infrastructure and investment picks up. The URA would need to work hard to enhance the standing and profile of PL's built environment which currently is very poor.

Inaction choking ICT growth in Mauritius | Singapore's vision

Singapore's drive to provide the resources necessary to compete in 2015.

Vision for Singapore: An Intelligent Nation, A Global City, Powered By Infocomm

Singapore’s Goals with iN2015

* to be #1 in the world in harnessing infocomm to add value to the economy and society
* to realise a 2 – fold increase in the value-add of the infocomm industry to S$26 billion
* to realise a 3 – fold increase in infocomm export revenue to S$60 billion
and
* to create 80,000 additional jobs
* to achieve 90% home broadband usage
* to achieve 100% computer ownership in homes with school-going children

Back to Mauritius.......The APC's Case Study on Mauritius' Access to internet bandwidth by Russell Southwood.

Reports on and about how Singapore plans to achieve its in2015.

Mauritius 54th in Network Readiness Index

This is far below Tunisia at 35. NRI primarily measures three areas Environment [political regulatory infrastructure], Readiness to use, and Usage. Mauritius shows extreme weakness in the areas of infrastructure, readiness, and usage.* In the past 4 years our ranking has been deteriorating from 43 to 54!

Full view

A preliminary look at the rankings suggests the only reason Mauritius is 54th is because of environmental factors, eg. taxes, easy to start up a business, really nothing to do with improving the core of being a networked economy. Looking deeper into the numbers especially the second illustration reveals this.

Mauritius v. Tunisia

*These numbers are from 2006 not sure exactly when, still rather alarming nonetheless!

Analysis

SSR Airport : Potential for becoming a Regional Aviation hub | Necessity of an Upgrade

Please Upgrade:

SSR is totally incapable of handling the current commercial aviation needs of Mauritius. It's outrageous that at a luxury destination such as Mauritius tourists have to suffer through SSR. The wait to just enter the departure hall on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday is absurd. Travelers complain of having enjoyed a great holiday in Mauritius except for the bitter taste of going through SSR on their way out. During peak hours travelers will find themselves waiting outside on the road or even at times in the parking lot unprotected from the elements (sweaty, hot, frustrated, angry, tired, dehydrated, so much for the r&r holiday). Furthermore, many people who have visited Mauritius recently have complained to me that even arriving at the airport 3 hours in advance is not sufficient to make your flight. And the next flight leaving from Mauritius to wherever a traveler is going to from Mauritius...........won't be anytime soon. Several major gripes: getting to the airport is still difficult (infrastructure issue), please open up the skies Air Mauritius sucks, better flight departure management - stop trying to have 3 B747's departing at exactly the same time the airport can't handle it! After suffering through check in there's no where to eat or shop, unless you consider the egregiously overpriced, crap tasting, little kiosks outside the baggage hall as a place to eat and the rather meek, only one shop duty free, selling nothing useful as being sufficient.

Improving existing services: The Hotels seeing that this is getting out of control are starting to allow passengers to check in from the Hotel - excellent idea but in the long term not sustainable and patchy, in addition to security issues. The airlines should offer online check in - since we are a cyber island... [we should've been pioneering the new check in by mobile phone - Dallas has been running trials for several months] The major bottleneck appears to be going through security (which isn't very rigorous especially to anyone going through Heathrow or any US airport), there were only two baggage scanners - get more please. The inbound service through the airport was pretty well thought out and smooth. Increase food and shopping options for travelers. As well as free wifi (cyber island?) wouldn't be too much to ask would it? The most important is the psychological shock that people get - having to wait outside, seeing the really long lines, heat, frustration, this needs to be sorted out first and foremost - people can live with the rest.


Regional Hub | Gateway to Africa

Since Mauritius aspires to be a hub and the Singapore of Africa, it needs an Airport which fits those aspirations. Major hubs around the world which come to mind are Heathrow (disaster), Atlanta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, KL, Singapore, Dubai, Frankfurt. Not only should Mauritius try to become a hub for passengers but it should also try to link up as a Cargo hub as well. Something innovative like possibly creating a port next to the air port specifically to connect the air/sea cargo. [I think Dubai has something like this going on or doing something along these lines].

Air demand has steadily been increasing across the African region, yet connections are poor, and the service to those areas are even worse. Africa is ripe for a low-cost pure regional or business traveler based airline to serve it; especially sub - Saharan Africa - but their's no hub to make this business model work (wink wink Air Mauritius). The airport doesn't need to be a grand concept like Dubai or Beijing it needs to be functional, modern, and attractive.

The main elements to a hub airport are connections, thus options for the traveler and options for the airlines to provide services. Travelers find opportunities for cheaper flights, stop overs in Mauritius, and moreover convenience and choice. Airlines get to provide their customers with better options and see Mauritius as an outlet to the whole of Africa rather than a single destination = $. Two things at the moment BA, Swiss/Lufthansa, and KLM/Air France dominate the African markets - usually if you're flying from Europe and you need to get to a destination like say Yaounde Swiss is your only option, I've flown all of them KLM is decent, don't ask about the others I might puke. When airlines look at flying to Mauritius or a traveler for that matter all they really see is one market, Mauritius - Country X, the airlines can't create agreements with other airlines, nor can the passenger find their own connections. Whereas when an airline looks at Heathrow, easyjet looks at Heathrow and sees over a 100 connections, and so does the easyjet passenger from Seville. An airline like Air Mauritius sees Frankfurt as a gateway to cover several countries in Europe, from Bruxelles up to Copenhagen.

Furthermore this fits in with all the other concepts Mauritius is trying to work on: becoming a business and financial hub for Africa - well you need people to be able to get here and get to Africa easily. Secondly this will solidify and increase the tourism base for Mauritius. Singapore's Changi international airport contributes 8% to Singapore's GDP and 7% to employment!

You really need to set yourself apart on things like, services at the airport, facilities, design, ease of use, shopping, hospitality, it must be a world class airport. Translate the outstanding hotel expertise to the airport.

Luxury Hub:

Mauritius is an ultimate luxury destination. A possible concept which should be considered is a luxury terminal to cater to making the luxury experience all that more luxurious as well as attracting more of the luxury business in Africa. The terminal shouldn't just have special lounges, individual nap rooms, a business center, a gym and a spa [this should be in the normal terminal as well] but should cater to the regional African luxury experience. For instance, the Safari - Mauritius packages which have become popular. In addition this could be a hub to airlines or services that want to offer private jet services in Africa or yacht services say to their new IRS villa. An airport business conference center for use on the way to Africa, meet your bankers, legal team (mu being a hub with all these services); Execs of a multinational flying in from around world meeting in SSR on the way to an African city. [presentation facilities, meeting rooms, private jet services, conference?] This would be a serious cash cow if it works.

Low Cost Hub

A few hub airports have been going with this concept. Not sure this would really work although Singapore has opened one and it's not your atypical Bali -esque tourist destination. Most of the airlines who do cheap packages to Africa fly their own chartered planes to specific airports. Plus the African market isn't big enough at the moment. Mauritius only really caters to upmarket tourists and rightly so.

Financing:

The newspapers state that the EU has been interested for sometime in providing funding to create a new airport. AML could also make use of the capital markets options, since the Hotels are doing so well, I don't see how an offering be it debt or equity would lack interest. Around $300m should be enough. Most important though: Air Mauritius - no favors, the only way you'll get better is through competition, and don't complain you have the resources. Air Services Agreements. we do a great job on Tax treaties why not extend that to aviation, SADC, AU, EU, ASEAN should all be worked out. Pro-business initiatives: an Airline fund or rebates, or tax exemptions, marketing assistance, IT assistance, BPO assistance, etc (we are a cyber island after all).

Africa opens to the World in 2010:

This is the ideal opportunity and time for Mauritius to be opening up a hub. Last time I checked, I was trying to go through SA to get to an African destination as well through SA to Mauritius. There were very few options from Europe or Asia to get to SA. The World Cup would be the perfect opportunity. Not least the fact that when Mbeki was in mu a few weeks ago for independence day said he would recommend Mauritius as a destination for teams preparing for the World Cup. Fans could enjoy watching their teams practice, enjoy sometime on the beach, and a new hub airport provides them with easy convenient options to their destination.

Towards a more Competitive Telecom and Internet service | Mauritius Competition Law and ICTA enforcement

Mauritius Telecom should open up it's network to everyone!!!

The reason for regulating the Telecom industry?

• Telecoms markets have certain characteristics
• Network Effects
• Value to consumers of service increase with each additional other consumer
• Without interconnection obligation, "tipping" the market
• Economies of Scale, density, and scope
• It's cheaper to run the largest network
• Common cost is allocated across more users and services
• There are high fixed, sunk costs, and low marginal costs
• Predatory Pricing
• Barrier to entry
• Impossible to build a network as big as Mauritius Telecom's
• It was built with your tax RS

Point of the regulation should be at this point in time

• Universal service
  
• Consumer access to reasonably priced services
• Fuel innovation in the ICT sector
• Internet literacy
• Meet bandwidth demand
  

What else should the regulators be thinking about? If wholesale prices are too cheap this would inhibit network investment, if wholesale prices are too expensive may inhibit services competition (not sure if anyone is allowed to access MT's network?). The regulation and actions by the regulator should enhance investment thoery > services based competition allows acquisition of a customer base, by providing a better service whomever it is, new entrarnts or Mauritius telecom - the money earned from their customer base (due to their superior service or cheaper service) over which subsequent investment in the network would be amortised.

Increasing competition in the Service Provider Market

The service provider market is made up of complex value chains, varying degrees of services (eg. some consumer only some business only, some bundled, some pure internet, etc), and prices. These service providers rely on inputs, which would mainly be the fixed-line telephone network of Mauritus telecom, or Wimax, or Satellite, or 3G. At the moment no one can use anyone else's network. The reason why WiMax and 3G came up were probably because MT wouldn't let them on their network to provide internet services. As you can see we need more network competition: WiMax and 3G are in their primitive stages, not only are they unreliable and not totally accessible to everyone, they are weak compared to the position of MT. Moreover, there are no small players in the Mauritian Market, those who have tried have faded away or are fading. Are there any incumbents waiting to enter the Mauritian market or who could enter to provide telco services? Orange, Vodacom, Emtel, maybe China Mobile, the Indians failed so far (MTML).

MT Undertakings
Mauritius Telecom is a vertically integrated company which has the ability and the incentive to maximize shareholder value by excluding competitors - this is what MT does at the moment.

Therefore I would suggest that MT be forced to give the ICTA undertakings: The ICTA would have to do an analysis as to how to open up the network so as to protect Mauritius Telecom, yet allow for it's network to be accessed and improved on by others, as well as receive a reasonable tariff applied to all using it's network.

Now to using the Competition Act to enforcing competition

Areas which can be enforced:

• predatory pricing;
• price squeezing;
• price discrimination;
• excessive pricing;
• refusal to supply (outside the context of an interconnection dispute);
• bundling

Abuse of Dominant Position:

Don't know of any Mauritian cases yet on Dominant position so I'll use the definition from Michelin v. Commission: a dominant company "has a special responsibility not to allow its conduct to impair undistorted competition on the common market" (MT would certainly fall into this category)

Abuse is an objective concept relating to the behavior of the undertaking in a dominant position which is such as to influence the structure of the market, where as result of the very presence of the undertaking in question, the degree of competition is weakened and which, through recourse to methods different from those which condition normal competition in products or services on the basis of transaction of commercial operators, has the effect of hindering the maintenance of the degree of competition still existing on the market, or the growth of that competition. Hoffman-Laroche v. Commission

Dominance

10. Monopoly situation
(1) For the purposes of this Act, and subject to subsection (2), a
monopoly situation exists in relation to the supply or acquisition of goods or
services of any description where competition is non-existent or where the
enterprise enjoys a dominant position in a given market.
(2) In determining whether a monopoly situation exists under
subsection (1), account shall be taken of the availability of substitutable goods
or services and all nearby competitors to which consumers could turn in the
short term.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to goods and services listed in the
Second Schedule.
(4) For the purposes of this Act, a "dominant position" means an ability
to influence unilaterally price or output of goods or services in a given market.

Qui lui dire: Schedule 2 of the Competition Act :(

SECOND SCHEDULE
(section 10)
GOODS AND SERVICES EXCLUDED FROM PROVISIONS RELATING
TO MONOPOLY SITUATIONS
1. Aviation and harbour services
2. Broadcasting services
3. Electricity services
4. Financial services
5. Freeport services
6. Information and Communications Technologies services

:(

Markets expand by increasing competition— not by protecting against it! That is true for both, the incumbent and the new entrants. The telecom market needs MT, a competitive and innovative MT. In order to grow we need the flexibility of competition law, which would allow market participants to undertake the right investments and earn a fair return on them.

An overriding aim must therefore be to use competition law to deregulate the market further — including ultimately deregulation of the incumbent. But in order to achieve that we first need
competitive market structures and a level playing field, such as access to the local loop—
otherwise we will just produce anti-competitive structures, high prices for the consumer and market stagnation.

Sithanen: 6% growth in 2008 | Global Economic Outlook and Impact on Mauritius

In the Economic Times of India the Finance Minister stated:

"We had 5 per cent in 2006, we had 5.6 per cent in 2007, and we can keep the growth rate at 6.0 per cent in the coming year," Finance Minister Rama Sithanen told the media.

"There are five sectors which could do exceptionally well; tourism, construction, the manufacturing free zone, financial services and professional services."

Preliminary thoughts:

The biggest question for Mauritius now that we know the US will slow down and that there strong signs that the rest of the world economy has not 'decoupled' from the US is what impact will this have on growth?

Across the board from economists at the World Economic Forum to analyst's at Merill Lynch, have all predicted a recession of between 2Q to 4Q's in the US and slow down globally as consumption in the US slows liquidity gets tighter.

Mauritius should be fairly shielded from the economic slow down Europe because most of it's tourism is high end tourism - the beauty of being at the high end is that those who purchase high end services are less likely to cut back on expenditures; however we have seen a cutback in the US by the high net worth. The growth should at least be sustainable though with the air lines focusing on new markets. Most Hotels are booked out until May anyways.

Construction should remain strong because there is so much of it going on at the moment, the next five years could possibly be the biggest construction frenzy Mauritius has ever seen! It's still too early to determine how the global credit crunch will affect construction. Commodity prices remain strong.

Financial services should remain strong, although the Indian economy is showing weakness. However, this should rebound as US and European investors look for more promising returns - routing FDI through Mauritius.

Professional services may suffer a little, with companies cutting back expenditures or it could accelerate for companies trying to cut costs, who might move their operations to Mauritius. The industry faces a shortage of skilled workers though, which will probably be bigger downside on growth in this sector.

The biggest downside risk to the economy presumably could come from export manufacturing area - especially textiles, with the Mauritian Rupee strengthening and American consumers tightening their pockets the industry could be in for a major slow down depending on how long the US recession takes. With regard to the Seafood hub, it remains puzzling why this sector hasn't grown faster; there certainly is shortage of fish in world, with marginal quality cod in London now going for around $15 a pound.

Other factors: inflation was down to around 9% this year from 14% the year previous. A slower global economy should but a damper on oil prices, however food prices continue to rise and which will be of concern to the gov.

My range would probably be between 4% to 8% growth in Mauritius: a major factor to keep an eye on will be whether the FDI keeps flowing in. So far 2008 has gotten off to good start, mostly based on Chinese investments, namely, Tianli, China's expression of interest to build the "Dreambridge" across the PL Harbour, New Guibbes City, Film City, Domain des Pailles development, and the Albion IRS by Club Med. There are also smaller scale investments going on in real estate sectors, as well as other medium scale investments in the commercial and retail estate sector. The Les Salines projects, and expected investments by India would also be welcome.

Mauritius Competition Law [Anti-competitive Agreements]

13. Anti-competitive agreements: (1) For the purposes of this Act, and subject to subsection (2), any agreement or part thereof - (a) whereby the parties to the agreement or as a result of which such parties may supply or acquire a substantial share of the market of goods or services of same description; and (b) the object or effect of which is to significantly prevent, restrict or distort competition. shall be considered as an anti-competitive agreement. (2) The Minister may, in the public interest or where he is satisfied that such an agreement is beneficial to the consumers, exempt any agreement from the provisions of this section.

Elements of section 13: (section 13 is poorly drafted)*

(1) Any agreement
(2) resulting in the parties to the agreement supplying or acquiring a substantial share of the market (think it means - any agreement to supply or acquire substantial market share: the question would be: whether this is an agreement to acquire market share)**
(3) object or effect
(4) significantly prevent,* restrict, or distort competition

[agreement + to acquire market share + object or effect + prevent, restrict, or distort] = anticompetitive

Exemptions: I would have preferred the OFT give exemptions; which would be challengeable, and economically based; ie. going through scientific process (based on economics) to arrive at the exemption: rather than an exemption coming from the Minister; although UK's legislation does reserve some powers to SS. However, Exemptions are primarily to be granted by the OFT

EU Law:

Article 81
1. The following shall be prohibited as incompatible with the common market: all agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between Member States and which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the common market, and in particular those which:

(a)

directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices or any other trading conditions;

(b)

limit or control production, markets, technical development, or investment;

(c)

share markets or sources of supply;

(d)

apply dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage;

(e)

make the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts.

2. Any agreements or decisions prohibited pursuant to this article shall be automatically void. 3. The provisions of paragraph 1 may, however, be declared inapplicable in the case of:

-

any agreement or category of agreements between undertakings,

-

any decision or category of decisions by associations of undertakings,

-

any concerted practice or category of concerted practices,

which contributes to improving the production or distribution of goods or to promoting technical or economic progress, while allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefit, and which does not:

(a)

impose on the undertakings concerned restrictions which are not indispensable to the attainment of these objectives;

(b)

afford such undertakings the possibility of eliminating competition in respect of a substantial part of the products in question.

UK Competition Act 1998

The prohibition

2 Agreements etc. preventing, restricting or distorting competition

(1) Subject to section 3, agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings or concerted practices which—

(a) may affect trade within the United Kingdom, and

(b) have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the United Kingdom,

are prohibited unless they are exempt in accordance with the provisions of this Part.

(2) Subsection (1) applies, in particular, to agreements, decisions or practices which—

(a) directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices or any other trading conditions;

(b) limit or control production, markets, technical development or investment;

(c) share markets or sources of supply;

(d) apply dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage;

(e) make the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts.

Section 6 allows the Secretary of State to give block exemptions, acting upon a recommendation of the OFT

Section 13(2) Exemptions [serious issues]
This gives the Minister the power to issue exemptions when it is in the public interest or for the benefit of consumers. This sub-section is potentially explosive! It's just waiting to happen. That's an incredible amount of power in the Minister's hand. Does the Minister have to provide any economic evidence for his decision? How will he base his decision? (politically presumably! lo$$yists time) Can he be held accountable - this is an political decision for an economic situation; the Courts won't want to get involved. Can I challenge if I'm affected? It would've preferable if there was something akin to the EC provisions, where an agreement is economically justified if it is exempted or given block exemptions which are decided through an economic + democratic process (block exemptions need to go through the Commission, Council acceptance etc: the competition commission (although this is a political body - it's an antitrust body, which would be tasked with putting out guidelines for how (economically) and why the block exemptions should exist and be applied). It will be intersting to see how public interest and consumer welfare would be defined: this provision could be saved - if the Courts were to strictly enforce and apply - state that the Minister's exemption is void if is not in the public interest or show consumer welfare; they'd have to define the latter too.

Preferably though, something like this would've been better:

Art 81(3): provisions of paragraph 1 may, however, be declared inapplicable in the case of:

-

any agreement or category of agreements between undertakings,

-

any decision or category of decisions by associations of undertakings,

-

any concerted practice or category of concerted practices,

which contributes to improving the production or distribution of goods or to promoting technical or economic progress, while allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefit, and which does not:

*Unecessary confusion is created in the language, in s. 13(a) especially. There should be a comma between parties and may. This doesn't really make sense to me, if you read it as "whereby the parties to the agreement ... may supply or acquire a substantial share of .." the word may doesn't belong there, I don't see why it's in there, nor is it easy to see how they've chucked in the word supply in there, appears they were trying to say 'an agreement to supply the market a substantial market share'...?
**defines the type of agreement we are looking for.
***significantly prevent, this could be a contentious issue, the others are more easily discernible.

The Sherman Act 1890
Section 1 of the Sherman Act outlaws "every contract, combination . . . , or conspiracy, in restraint of trade," but long ago, the Supreme Court decided that the Sherman Act prohibits only those contracts or agreements that restrain trade unreasonably. What kinds of agreements are unreasonable is up to the courts.

Section 2 of the Sherman Act makes it unlawful for a company to "monopolize, or attempt to monopolize," trade or commerce. As that law has been interpreted, it is not necessarily illegal for a company to have a monopoly or to try to achieve a monopoly position. The law is violated only if the company tries to maintain or acquire a monopoly position through unreasonable methods. For the courts, a key factor in determining what is unreasonable is whether the practice has a legitimate business justification.

Mauritius Competition Law [Fundamental Elements]

12. Collusive agreements
(1) Where, under any agreement-
(a) the parties acquire or supply goods or services of the same
description, the object of which is, in any way, to -
(i) fix the selling or purchase prices of the goods or
services; or
(ii) share markets or sources of supply; or
(iii) restrict the supply of the goods or services to, or the
acquisition of them from, any person; and
(b) the effect of which significantly prevents, restricts or distorts
competition,
that agreement shall be regarded as a collusive agreement.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), any agreement, or provision thereof,
which amounts to a collusive agreement, is prohibited and void.
(3) Any agreement of the classes specified in the Third Schedule shall
not be considered as a collusive agreement.

14. Bid-rigging
(1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall enter into an agreement
whereby one party –
(a) agrees not to submit a bid or tender in response to an
invitation for bids or tenders; or
(b) agrees upon the price, terms or conditions of a bid or tender
to be submitted in response to such a call or request.
(2) This section does not apply to –
(a) an agreement to which the only parties are interconnected
bodies corporate; or
(b) an agreement the terms of which are made known to the
person making the invitation for bids or tenders at or
before the time when any bid or tender is made by a party to
the agreement.
(3) A person who contravenes sub-section (1) shall commit an offence
and, on conviction, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 500,000 rupees or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years.
(4) Where the Director is satisfied that any person has contravened
section 14, he shall refer the matter to the Police.

13. Anti-competitive agreements
(1) For the purposes of this Act, and subject to subsection (2), any
agreement or part thereof -
(a) whereby the parties to the agreement or as a result of which
such parties may supply or acquire a substantial share of the
market of goods or services of same description; and
(b) the object or effect of which is to significantly prevent, restrict
or distort competition.
shall be considered as an anti-competitive agreement.
(2) The Minister may, in the public interest or where he is satisfied that
such an agreement is beneficial to the consumers, exempt any agreement from
the provisions of this section

Dominance

10. Monopoly situation
(1) For the purposes of this Act, and subject to subsection (2), a
monopoly situation exists in relation to the supply or acquisition of goods or
services of any description where competition is non-existent or where the
enterprise enjoys a dominant position in a given market.
(2) In determining whether a monopoly situation exists under
subsection (1), account shall be taken of the availability of substitutable goods
or services and all nearby competitors to which consumers could turn in the
short term.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to goods and services listed in the
Second Schedule.
(4) For the purposes of this Act, a "dominant position" means an ability
to influence unilaterally price or output of goods or services in a given market.

Joint Dominance

11. Abuse of monopoly situation
(1) Subject to subsection (2), an abuse of monopoly situation occurs
where an enterprise-
(a) which is in the position defined under section 10; and
(b) by itself or together with other enterprises -
(i) acts or behaves in such a manner as to unduly limits
the ability of other persons to supply or acquire goods
or services of the same description; and
(ii) such acts or behaviour either have or are likely to
have an adverse effect on the efficiency,
adaptability and competitiveness of the economy,
or are, or are likely to be, detrimental to the
interests of consumers.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), any act or behaviour
which -
(a) directly or indirectly imposes unfair purchase or selling prices
or other unfair trading conditions such as below-cost pricing;
(b) limits supply, production, markets or technical development
to the prejudice of consumers;
(c) amounts to applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent
transactions with other trading partners, thereby placing
them in a competitive disadvantage; or
(a) makes the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by
the other parties of supplementary obligations which by their
nature or according to commercial usage have no
connection with the subject of the contracts,
shall be taken into consideration in determining whether an abuse of monopoly
situation has arisen.

Predatory pricing Article 11

world bank Mauritius Competition

Club Med Albion IRS $100m

Le Club Med construit 40 villas de luxe

Le Club Med investit Rs 1,5 mds dans un projet d’«Integrated Resorts Scheme» comprenant 40 villas. La plus petite coûtera quelque Rs 40 m et la plus luxueuse quelque Rs 80 m. La construction débutera en mai.

Les 40 villas, construites sur une superficie de 12 hectares, à proximité du Club Med d’Albion, comporteront au total 123 chambres à coucher. 14 villas auront deux chambres à coucher, neuf auront trois chambres et 17 auront quatre chambres à coucher. Chacune des villas sera dotée d’une piscine individuelle et d’un jardin privé. Mais la répartition est sujette à d’éventuelles modifications. Cela a été pris en considération dans la conception générale du projet. Les villas cibleront principalement une clientèle européenne – des Français, des Belges et des Suisses.

L'Express

Les Salines Development

Actualité Locales
Lundi 14 janvier 2008
No - 16399

PORT-LOUIS
Un village moderne se crée aux Salines

Les nouveaux contours du port se dessinent. La Mauritius Ports Authority (MPA) a décidé vendredi de démarrer le nouveau village intégré aux Salines, à Port-Louis, avec la construction de complexes touristiques, récréatifs et commerciaux. «Nous prévoyons d’aménager un front de mer, un terminal pour des paquebots de croisières, une marina pour des yachts et bateaux de plaisance, trois à quatre hôtels, des appartements résidentiels, des restaurants, dont un restaurant tournant», explique Siddick Chady, président de la MPA.

«Il est aussi dans notre intention d’y avoir un petit hôpital, des espaces loisirs et de détente, des espaces commerciaux, des magasins et boutiques, des bâtiments intelligents, comme ceux de la cybercité, et des espaces bureau, même une esplanade pouvant accueillir 15 000 personnes ou plus. Nous voulons des bâtiments d’au moins 15 étages dans ce village.»

En raison de son envergure, la réalisation du Salines Waterfront Village nécessitera de gros investissements en plusieurs phases sur quatre à cinq ans. Selon Siddick Chady, la première devrait être prête en 2010 et se chiffrer autour de Rs 5 à Rs 7 milliards.

Le développement du Salines Waterfront Village se fera surtout par des investissements du secteur privé. Le village s’étendra sur 69 arpents à côté des installations du chargement du sucre en vrac. La MPA sera partie prenante comme partenaire. D’autant plus qu’elle a fait de gros investissements dans le passé dans les travaux de dragage et de remblaiement.

«Nous travaillons sur ce projet depuis plusieurs mois. Il y a eu plusieurs retouches », dit Siddick Chady. Le développement des Salines a été proposé depuis plusieurs années déjà, notamment dans le Master Plan de 1996 pour le port.

Un pont (foot bridge) reliera le front de mer actuel de la Place Labourdonnais au nouveau village des Salines. Le jardin Les Salines (Robert Edward Hart) aura un nouveau look car c’est un patrimoine à préserver. La mairie et le ministère des Infrastructures publiques seront impliqués. Siddick Chady se propose de discuter dans les prochaines semaines avec les promoteurs qui pourraient être intéressés à être impliqués dans le développement du Salines Waterfront Village.

Au village s’ajoute la construction du Dream Bridge. L’idée avait été jetée alors que Siddick Chady occupait le portefeuille des Infrastructures publiques du premier gouvernement Ramgoolam. Ce projet, comme celui de la route Terre Rouge - Verdun - Trianon est une des options pour décongestionner la capitale. Le plan initial prévoyait que le pont commence à Cassis, près du collège Royal de Port-Louis avant de passer par Les Salines pour rejoindre la Marine Road à Roche-Bois. Mais il appartiendra aux décideurs de voir s’il ne faudrait pas que le Dream Bridge s’étende jusqu’à Riche-Terre, à cause du développement rapide de la circulation.


Renforcement de la sécurité

«Le Dream Bridge occupe une bonne place à notre agenda. La MPA va remettre d’ici fin janvier ses propositions pour le tracé. Cela sera fait avec la collaboration du ministère des Infrastructures publiques. C’est un projet qui intéresse énormément le Premier ministre», souligne Siddick Chady.

Mais la MPA a d’autres priorités pour le développement du port comme un hub régional, notamment le renforcement de la sécurité avec l’entrée en opération de caméras de surveillance dans des points stratégiques, la construction d’un port de pêche, l’installation de deux ou trois grues au terminal polyvalent une fois qu’il aura été consolidé, l’extension du quai du Mauritius Container Terminal pour manutentionner trois porte-conteneurs à la fois, et l’aménagement du terminal de Fort William.

«Nous comptons encourager la création d’entrepôts de produits secs et frigorifiés informatisés pour le chargement et déchargement des conteneurs, la construction d’une autre cale sèche pour les travaux de carénage et de réparation de bateaux», fait ressortir Siddick Chady.

L’Oil Jetty – quai dédié au déchargement des produits pétroliers et du gaz ménager – sera en opération en mai. Dans cette optique, la MPA est en contact avec des entreprises privées intéressées à construire des cuves de stockage de ces produits.

«Nous voulons faire revivre Port Louis. Dans tous les pays, Singapour, Hong Kong, Dubayy, c’est le port qui donne vie à la capitale. C’est vrai que certains projets ont été initiés avant mon administration, mais nous allons nous évertuer à les matérialiser.»

Par Alain BARBÉ

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