One of the constraints to doing business in many small island environments is the unavailability of suitable land. The sheer granite mountains, rising sharply out of the Indian Ocean, which make up the main islands of Seychelles, previously provided a perfect example of this check to development.

Successive administrations, however, have tackled this problem by extending the area around Victoria on the east coast of Mahé out to sea.
Land reclaimed from the sea is today the site of much of Victoria’s central business district and is the ground on which the country’s National Assembly sits.

More recent reclamation projects have created space for the country’s power station, national stadium, housing projects, schools and industrial estates.

After waiting for the reclaimed land to settle, the most recently acquired batch of reclaimed islands are starting to be developed, providing Seychelles with a luxury housing resort, land on which to expand its port and fishing facilities, an area of low cost, state provided housing, a five star hotel and golf course, and a range of other projects generating revenue for the country or meeting its social needs.

By reaching out to sea to create usable flat land, Seychelles’ governments have been able to protect the country’s mountainous interior from the environmental impacts of development and today over 45% of the Seychelles land mass is afforded some degree of environmental protection.