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Mauritius has announced a programme to audit energy use in all ministries, with a view to reducing wastage and promoting solar energy, PANA reported Saturday.
Mauritian Finance Minister Ramakrishna Sithanen announced Friday night, in his budget speech for the next six months that the Public Utilities Ministry will develop a programme for consultants to undertake energy audits of enterprises, particularly in the manufacturing and tourism sectors.
Sithanen said after reducing by half the taxes, excise duties, road tax and registration fees on hybrid vehicles last year, he was extending these measures now to electric cars.
'To encourage the saving of electricity at peak times, the national television will display an interactive banner, indicating peak usage in real time and calling on customers to dynamically manage their electricity consumption more efficiently at those times,' he said.
The Minister recalled that the response to the solar water heater scheme launched last year, wherein every household would receive a government grant of US$ 315 to buy a solar water heater, has been successful.
'Some 29,000 applications compared with our target of 20,000 have been received. Some 14,000 applications have already been approved,' he disclosed.
Sithanen also revealed that the response has been equally outstanding for the CFL lamp scheme, with one million lamps distributed.
According to him, there were significant savings for the users of these lamps, while also promoting clean energy.
'Government will work with local producers to modify the solar water scheme to move from a focus on the consumption side to promoting competitive domestic production of solar heaters with the most appropriate technology for our circumstances, ' the minister emphasised.
Among the other measures announced, the government will extend the excise duty of Rs 1.00 per PET bottle to aluminum cans used for soft and alcoholic drinks as from 23 May.
The proceeds will be credited to the MID Fund to encourage the emergence of schemes for the recycling of aluminum cans."
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