09 October 2026 | .
Today, we stand at an important point in Seychelles’ development, looking ahead to the country we are preparing to build.
The sea before us represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Today, we choose to embrace that opportunity, as we take another important step in a path that will shape our national development for generations.
Seychelles has repeatedly shown that when our geography places limits on the land available to us, we have had the vision and determination to create new opportunities.
We have seen this throughout our development, from the expansion of Victoria and the construction of our international airport, to the reclamations that created Providence, Roche Caiman, Perseverance, Eden Island, Eve Island and Île Soleil.
Today, we welcome Jan De Nul once again as a partner of this national journey.
And so, to Jan De Nul, I say: Welcome to Seychelles.
We look forward to working together to deliver this project with the responsibility and long-term vision it requires.
A project of this magnitude must be approached with long term sustainability in mind. What we undertake today must serve not only our present needs, but the Seychelles we want to leave to future generations.
Let us therefore move forward with ambition and discipline, ensuring that today's progress creates lasting value for our country and our people.
Today we are thinking about the Seychellois child who has not yet been born.
That child will need a home.
That child will need a school.
That child will need roads, hospitals, electricity, water and other services.
To our younger generation: you inherit a country built through the efforts of those before you. Your responsibility is not only to preserve that progress, but to take it further.
Use your education, technology and ideas to build a stronger Seychelles. What you inherit should be the foundation for what you improve.
Seychelles has a long, proud history of using land reclamation to overcome its shortage of flat, developable land. The story runs from the early expansion of Victoria, through the airport and port projects, to the major East Coast reclamation programme.
Today, we recognise the importance of Île Perseverance, Providence, Roche Caiman and our other reclaimed areas, with Île Aurore soon to follow.
These reclamations have provided the land on which thousands of Seychellois families now live, our children go to school, and businesses operate and grow.
For a small island nation, land is one of our most precious national resources. We cannot create mountains.
We cannot create valleys and rivers. But, through careful national planning, responsible engineering and environmental stewardship, we can create new, productive spaces for our people.
We now stand at a site which was previously the sea 20 years ago, and we look outward as we begin a new chapter in the development of our country.
Today we officially begin the next phase of land reclamation for Seychelles referred to by the project name ECP4, whereby we will be reclaiming well over 570,000m2 of new national asset, creating new opportunities.
My fellow Seychellois, we are an ocean nation. So, our ocean is not only our heritage, but also our solution to our land constraint. It is part of our identity. It sustains our economy.
This ECP4 will not mean abandoning our environmental responsibilities. It is being based on sound science, proper planning, rigorous environmental safeguards and responsible engineering.
Today also sends a clear message to investors: Seychelles is open to investment. We welcome investment that creates jobs, transfers knowledge, develops skills, introduces innovation and contributes to the growth of our economy.
But our approach is equally clear: Investment must create value for Seychelles.Our national assets must be developed in a manner that protects the long-term interests of the Seychellois people.
To the young people of Seychelles, when you look at this project, I hope you see more than the land being created today. I hope you see a place for yourself in the Seychelles of tomorrow.
A place where you can one day own a home, build a career, start a business and raise a family. A place where you can build your future here, in your own country.
Our responsibility as leaders is not simply to manage the Seychelles we inherited. Our responsibility is to prepare the Seychelles you will inherit.
May God bless this project, And may God bless the prosperity we will derive from it.
Thank you.
