New Year's Day fireworks started bushfires in Noumea 31 December 2023 Photo: NC la 1ère
Bushfire breaks out during New Year's Nouméa fireworks
A bushfire has broken out during New Caledonia's New Years fireworks.
The midnight traditional fireworks were set off from the St Marie islet, off one of Nouméa's popular beaches, where over 30,000 spectators had gathered to enjoy the 30-minute pyrotechnical show organised by the Nouméa municipality at an estimated cost of US$110,000.
"Looks like there is another fire, but it's really beautiful (...) It's hot", an unmoved spectator told public television Nouvelle-Calédonie la 1ère.
Half a dozen firemen were called, but had to wait for the end of the show to eventually extinguish the blaze, three hours later.
Meanwhile, half of the islet's vegetation had gone up in flames.
Since December, New Caledonia, especially small towns in the Greater Nouméa area, has been facing a wave of bushfires, due to the dry conditions but also a large number of criminal acts or negligence.
Mont Dore bushfires destruction late December 2023 Photo: NC la 1ère
Tens of thousands of hectares have already been lost.
Several individuals, charged with arson, have since last month appeared before the courts.
New Caledonia's President Louis Mapou, in a release published earlier this week, has once again appealed to the general public for more responsibility in the face of a potential "ecological disaster".
"If we don't react now, a large part of our country will just go up in flames, with the consequences that we know," he said.
Referring to the criminal motives sometimes behind those fires, he lashed out at what he termed "this unjustifiable destruction endeavour" and called on civilian and custom authorities to "taking all necessary steps to contain this phenomenon".
"These actions cannot benefit from any immunity whatsoever."
Coral air route plan cancelled
A French project to restore a South Pacific vintage "coral route" has been aborted.
Promoters and associates of the "Fly Coralway" airline project aimed at linking French Polynesia (Papeete), New Caledonia (Nouméa), Wallis-and-Futuna (Mata'Utu), Samoa (Apia) and Fiji (Nadi).
But the French partners now say the project to revive the mythical route has to be cancelled for lack of funding.
"We regretfully announce that at the end of 2023, it was decided to end the FLY CORALway project", they said in a released dated December 30.
Tahiti-Faa'a international airport to get facelift before Olympics
Tahiti Faaa Airport Photo: Supplied
Tahiti-Faa'a's international airport will receive an upgrade before French Polynesia welcomes the surf competition as part of the Paris 2024 Olympics next July.
French High Commissioner Eric Spitz made the announcement during a New Year's Eve courtesy call at the terminal, saying a call for tenders and terms of reference would be made shortly.
He said the airport management company, ADT (Aéroport de Tahiti) has agreed to make significant investments in the refurbishing of domestic terminals, but also build a new side airstrip so that military aircraft do not occupy space shared with commercial regional flights.
Some of the most urgent works are scheduled to be completed in time for the French Olympics.
French company Alstom gets railway maintenance contract for Victoria State
French company Alstom has been awarded the railway maintenance contract for the Australian state of Victoria.
In an announcement before Christmas, the French transport equipment multinational, which employs some 300 staff in Australia, said they were "proud" to have been awarded the €900 million (Euro) contract to maintain the VLocity and Classic fleets of regional trains for the next ten years.
