Mrs Benstrong lays the foundation stone accompanied by Mr Rands

A SR1.7 million project for the construction of a new conservation headquarters at Roche Caïman has already started.

Mike Rands, chief executive of Birdlife International, and Florence Benstrong, mayor of Victoria, laid the foundation stone for the construction of the headquarters Wednesday August 6.

The conservation headquarters will be constructed behind the Stad Linite next to the Roche Caïman Bird Sanctuary.

Also present for  the occasion were Nirmal Jivan Shah, chief executive of Nature Seychelles, Jovana Charles, Member of the National Assembly for the Roche Caïman district, Françoise Shroff, principal secretary in the President's Office, and staff of Nature Seychelles.

The new conservation centre, designed by Terrence Camille and financed by several foreign conservation bodies, will include rooms for seminars, training and other educational activities such as exhibition about different aspects of the Seychelles biodiversity.

The new centre would enable local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) like Nature Seychelles and the Wildlife Clubs of Seychelles (WCS) to better deliver conservation and environmental education works for the benefit of all Seychellois and scientists working with locally-based international NGOs like Birdlife International, World Society for the Protection of Birds (WSPB) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

According to Mr Shah, it is most likely that the conservation headquarters will become the regional centre for conservation in the future.

Since the building, which is of a Creole style design, will be located close to the Roche Caïman bird sanctuary, this would allow those involved in this project to manage it efficiently.

Construction work on the centre will be done by Vijay Construction and if everything goes according to plan, it should be ready by early next year.

On behalf of Nature Seychelles, Mr Shah thanked the President of Seychelles, Mr France Albert Rene, the Ministry of Land Use and Habitat and all those who have brought their support to the project.

There were also words of thanks for all international partners for their financial assistance.

For his part, Dr Rands congratulated Nature Seychelles for taking the initiative to build such a centre which, he said, would help in the conservation of Seychelles' wildlife.

He added that the centre would not only be a place for research, but also for people to meet and discuss different issues.

Still in the conservation line, Mr Shah has said that the Wild Life Clubs (WLC) will be using financial assistance received for the Children's Fund to fund their projects.

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