Quatre Bornes

Quatre Bornes
La Ville de Fleures
—  Town  —
Quatre Bornes

Flag
Motto: "URBS - FLORIDA"
(English for "Flowery")
Quatre Bornes
Municipal Council location
Coordinates:
Country Mauritius
Districts Plaines Wilhems
Settled 1721
Founder Wilhem Leicknig
Government[1]
 • Type Mayor-council
 • Lord Mayor Mrs M.Désirée Ariane OXENHAM
 • Deputy Mayor Mr P.Parsad BEEDASY
Area
 • Total 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi)
Elevation 313 m (1,027 ft)
Population (2010)[2]
 • Total 81,773
 • Rank 5th in Mauritius
 • Density 4,088.7/km2 (10,589.6/sq mi)
Demonym Quatrebornian
Time zone MUT (UTC+4)
Airport Plaisance Airport (distanced approximately 29 km)
Website Municipal Council

Quatre Bornes is a town in Mauritius, located in the Upper Plaines Wilhems District, between the towns of Rose Hill and Vacoas-Phoenix. Covering an area of over twenty thousand square kilometres, Quatre Bornes is linked by roads to the north, east, south and west of Mauritius. From the "Vieux Quatre Bornes" to the "Cybercity", the town of Quatre Bornes is at the same time residential, commercial and industrial. The population is estimated at 81,773.[2]

Contents

Etymology

An ordinance, passed in 1895 and adopted in 1896, resulted in the creation of the "Town of Quatre Bornes". The name "Quatre Bornes" (which means four boundary stones in French) probably owes its name to a map drawn by Descubes in 1880, in which he set the boundary stones (bornes) of Palma, Bassin, Trianon, and Beau Séjour. One historian suggested that the "bornes" rather delimited the three districts of Plaine Wilhems, Moka and Black River. It is also claimed that in 1761 two land owners, Mr Mabille and Mr Desveaux were having land problems. Their case was referred to as "Le cas des Quatre Bornes". W. Edward, in 1921, explained that four boundary stones used to delimit the intersections between the roads crossing Vacoas and Bassin/Palma, and La Louise and the Balisage separating the land property of La Louise, and Beau Séjour. Some also claim that Quatre Bornes owes its name to a "commune" in France. A few landmarks in the history of Quatre Bornes.

History

Politics

Municipal Elections

Municipal elections are expected to be held every five years in each Municipal Council areas (towns) of the country. As stipulated in the Local Government Act of 1989, 24 councillors should be elected. In the last elections in October 2005 the town was subdivided into 3 wards, only 22,222 (42.3%) people vote out of 52,498 registered voters.[1] The next election which should have taken place in 2010 was postponed for 2012.[3]

General Elections

For the general elections the town is classified as the No 18 constituency known as Belle–Rose Quatre Bornes, however some regions of the town like Palma, La Source, Pierrefonds, Bassin are included in the No 14 Savanne and Black River constituency because of the high number of voters. This is probably the reason for lack of sports infrastructure in these regions particularly at Bassin a suburb in the south of the town.

Education

Schools in Quatre Bornes include 12 secondary schools and 9 primary schools which are either state own or private institution. However the inhabitants can still send their children to schools found in the nearby town that is Rose Hill and Vacoas. Tertiary institution like the Charles Telfair Institute and Rushmore Business School are also found in Quatre Bornes.

Landmarks and attractions

Services and Amenities

The Orchard Centre is a popular shopping mall found in the centre of town, on St Jean Road, which is one of the town's main thoroughfares. Next to Orchard Centre is the bus station and the market place. The market place attacts a lot of local citizen as well as tourist during market day. Another shopping centre nearby is the Trianon Shopping Park, which is in the east of the town at the far end of St Jean Road, close to the junction with the M2 motorway. The Victoria Hospital is also located on the Candos-Vacoas road in Quatre Bornes.

Suburbs

The town of Quatre Bornes is divided into different regions.[4]

  • Bagatelle
  • Bassin
  • Belle Rose
  • Berthaud
  • Centre Ville
  • Cybercity
  • La Louise
  • La Source
  • Palma
  • Pellegrin
  • Pierrefonds
  • Sodnac
  • St Jean
  • Trianon
  • Vieux Quatre Bornes

International relations

Twin towns - Sister cities

Quatre Bornes is twinned with:

See also

External links

References