For those who haven’t entered the port area yet, it is important to know that you must hold a valid access pass, issued by the Mauritius Ports Authority (MPA) against a payment of Rs10.

There are a few police check points in the port (shown above) where police officers usually stop vehicles to verify if they hold a valid pass. I said “usually” because as you can imagine, it can be painful to stand on the road side all day long, under a hot and burning sun!

In order to get a Pass Card, you have to go to the MPA office, queue up for a few mins (80% of time), hand your Identity Card to the officer there who will write down your personal details and your destination (in the port) into a log book as well as in a piece of card, shown below.

I always said to myself, this job got to be pretty painful. Writing all those names, ID number, vehicle plate number and destination in 2 places, all day long… This process needs to be computerized at some time or other…

And they finally did it!

Today, to my surprise, the guy did not write anything

He checked my ID card, typed the name or number into a computer.

***rolling drums**

He read my vehicle plate number and my usual destination from the computer screen and asked me if they were correct.

“Yes!” and the system printed a small access pass

Ah, la technologie, il était temps!

Perhaps in the future, it will be even more easier with electronic ID cards. One thing for sure, it gonna take less time than before… Well, the first days or weeks might be a bit tough for the existing staff to adapt to the new system.

This post won’t probably mean anything to 99.9% of you dear readers, but Mauritius is moving forward, slowly.

[Link to Google Map overview of the Port Area]

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