AS is often the case in Mauritius, new projects give rise first to fascination, then suspicions, followed by disillusionment and finally controversies. This is not a new phenomenon. During the British administration in the 1850s, the opening of a tunnel through the Pouce mountain came very much in the limelight. In government and social circles, the Pouce tunnel, described as “one of the most glorious enterprises ever to be undertaken in Mauritius”, became one of the pet subjects for discussions. So much so that even the two leading newspapers of the time, Le Mauricien and Le Cernéen, were dragged into confl icting arguments over whether the project was worthwhile or not.

The Pouce tunnel was thought to resolve mainly the problem of water supply to Port Louis, which could not cater for a growing town population. The water shortage rendered more acute by the setting up of new settlements by “squatters at the foot of the Signal mountain” became a matter of serious concern so much so that the Mayor of Port Louis, Louis Léchelle, wrote to the colonial Secretary, requesting him “not to give any extension to the suburb parts…”

Anyway, the expansion of the residential zones of Port Louis, which had just attained the status of Municipality, was inevitable. For the town to be spared of water scarcity, something had to be done. The solution, it was found out, resided in procuring water from the Moka river. The boring of the Pouce, and then getting a feeder canal passing through from the Moka, was regarded as the only alternative. That project was to undergo some changes when it was decided to include a road under the Pouce to make access to the central and eastern parts of the island easier and quicker. The tunneling project was not something new. During the French occupation, a similar proposition was made by one Dr Margéot, who even went to the extent of boring the Pouce to a depth of 50 ft.

That twin project of water canal and road running through the Pouce now floated by the colonial Administration was to elicit much enthusiasm from local engineers. Of all the projects, Governor George Anderson found the one submitted by Frederick Robert Nixon worth considering, after an assessment was carried out by the Royal Engineer’s office.

Nixon’s project provided for the construction of a 8 mile road connecting Port Louis to Moka via the Pouce mountain. Parallel to the road would be running a covered canal supplying the “purest quality” of water to Port Louis. The tunnel was to be 22 ft wide and 20 feet high so that it was accessible to carts, horse carriages and pedestrians. The 500 “worst class of condemned prisoners” held in the Port Louis central jail were to be saddled to the task of boring the mountain. Hailed as a project of ‘magnitude’ by Colonel Tait, of the Royal Engineers office, the tunnel was set for completion in three years with, an estimated cost of f 67,362.4 sh.

In his letter dated 25 July 1849 to Governor Anderson, Robert Nixon wrote “the road through the Pouce mountain to Moka will be deemed an everlasting memorial of your Excellency’s wisdom and one of the best proofs of the interest your Excellency has shown in advancing the prosperity of Mauritius…”

After fascination, disillusionment started creeping in. Nixon’s optimism was to gradually evaporate in the thin air. Governor Anderson seemed to have come under the grip of a number of influential members of the Council of Government who were averse to this project. Referring to those who were trying to torpedo this initiative, the newspaper Le Maurcien denounced them as “fabricants d’ordonnances bonnes ou mauvaises” who had transformed themselves as “ingénieurs créés à la minute.”

But still, the Governor showed a reassuring façade of support. A little while later, he got Nixon’s supporters into thinking that the Municipal Corporation of Port Louis was the most concerned with the Pouce tunnel and walked out of it. Just before he left Mauritius, the Pouce tunnel became an ‘affair’ which had to be tackled by the Mayor of Port Louis.

Although the Municipal Corporation showed good spirit in supporting the tunnel scheme, it hit a stumbling block – lack of finance. Even though, it was prepared to share the costs. Part of the finance was to be obtained from charges collected on water consumption. The Colonial Treasury for its part remained adamant. Not a single cent was advanced. Government contribution was limited only to the deployment of prisoners to blast the rocks.

As exasperation reached its peak, the inhabitants sent a petition to the new Governor, Sir James Macaulay Higginson, in March 1852 insisting the Government think again. That petition went unheeded. In a last desperate attempt, the Municipality decided to launch a Company, the Port Louis Corporation, to raise finance through public subscriptions. Besides charging the inhabitants for water consumption, the Corporation thought of deriving additional revenues through another stream – the toll system that was to be applied to carts and horse carriages plying through the tunnel.

Nixon started drilling the Pouce on 29 September 1851. After 20 days of labour, the Pouce was bored to a depth of 10 feet, 14 feet wide and 9 feet high when now even the prisoners were removed from the site “for fear of their escaping at night”. Works came to a standstill. To complicate matters, the finance received through the shares of the Port Louis Corporation proved inadequate. It was at this juncture that both the Municipal Corporation and Nixon gave up.

The Pouce Tunnel, a visionary idea, was seemingly scuttled by paranoia, prejudice and dogma. It could not see the light of the day, much to the relief of the newspaper Le Cernéen, which had decried Nixon’s scheme and feared that the currents of cold air from Moka coming to Port Louis would kill off more people than would cholera in an epidemic!