Section 27: Interpretation of Part V

27. Interpretation of Part V In this Part— “agricultural land” means— (a) land which is, or has been, under cultivation; (b) land which is declared to be an irrigation area under the Irrigation Authority Act; or [Issue 5] S49 – 24 Revised Laws of Mauritius (c) land subdivided for agricultural purposes under the Morcellement Act; “agro-industrial activity”— (a) means any activity which adds value to agricultural products, intermediates, by-products or residues, both food and non-food, derived from the agricultural sector which shall include crop production, animal husbandry, forestry and fishing and hi-tech and biotechnological-based agriculture, by their processing, preservation, packaging or preparation into intermediate products or consumer goods; and (b) includes such other activity relating to agro-industry as the Minister may approve; “committee” means the committee established under section 28 (6); “cultivation” includes the cultivation of sugar cane or tea; “diversification within sugar” includes the use of bagasse for electricity generation, the desugarisation of molasses, the production of special sugars, the conversion of molasses to chemical products or the production of alcochemicals, high value added rum or fuel ethanol or the cultivation of crops other than sugar cane in sugar cane interlines and in rotational land as specified in section 17 (4); “effective date”, in relation to section 28, means the date on which the application is complete; “employee” has the meaning specified in Part I (a) (i), (ii) and (v) of the Third Schedule; “expenditure”— (a) effected in relation to a factory closure, a VRS or an ERS, means— (i) on site infrastructural costs in relation to the land being offered to employees, and such offsite infrastructural costs as the Minister may approve; (ii) cash compensation paid to employees; (iii) cumulative interest at prime lending rate for a maximum period of 2 years on loans contracted for the project implementation costs approved by the Minister; and (iv) any of the expenditure incurred in the implementation of the conditions specified in Part I of the Eleventh Schedule; and (b) effected in relation to a factory closure, includes costs for the upgrading or modernising of a factory or factories receiving canes in the context of a factory closure and any contribution made to the General Fund set up under section 46 of the Mauritius Cane Industry Authority Act; S49 – 25 [Issue 9] Sugar Industry Efficiency Act “non-citizen” has the same meaning as in the Non-Citizens (Property Restriction) Act; “owner”, for the purpose of section 28 (1A), (3) and (4F), includes— (a) a lessee holding a lease agreement for a term of 20 years or more, provided that— (i) the lease agreement is registered under the Registration Duty Act; and (ii) the purpose of the conversion specified in the application under section 28 (3) is the same as the purpose of the lease contained in the lease agreement; (b) a non-citizen who has concluded a deed of transfer by way of “promesse de vente” under clause suspensive for the acquisition of agricultural land for business purposes where— (i) the deed of transfer is registered under the Registration Duty Act; and (ii) the purpose of the conversion specified in the application under section 28 (3) is the same as the purpose of the acquisition contained in the deed of transfer; “power station” includes— (a) steam generating units or boilers, complete with all ancillary equipment such as heat r deed of transfer by way of “promesse de vente” under clause suspensive for the acquisition of agricultural land for business purposes where— (i) the deed of transfer is registered under the Registration Duty Act; and (ii) the purpose of the conversion specified in the application under section 28 (3) is the same as the purpose of the acquisition contained in the deed of transfer; “power station” includes— (a) steam generating units or boilers, complete with all ancillary equipment such as heat recovery equipment, including economisers, draught fans and drive, air ducts, feed water treatment, storage and pumping stations and instrumentation, grate bagasse feeder; and (b) condensing pass out turbo-generators, steam turbine drive condenser, turbine instruments and control, speed reducer, couplings, generator, generator control equipment, motor control centres and accessories; “specified worker” means a worker who is covered by— (a) the Sugar Industry (Agricultural Workers) (Remuneration Order) Regulations 1983; or (b) the Sugar Industry (Non-Agricultural Workers) (Remuneration Order) Regulations 1985. [S. 27 amended by s. 10 of Act 3 of 2007 w.e.f. 1 March 2007; s. 23 (b) of Act 1 of 2009 w.e.f. 16 April 2009; s. 29 (b) of Act 20 of 2011 w.e.f. 16 July 2011; s. 7 of Act 15 of 2013 w.e.f. 29 June 2013; s. 49 (a) of Act 9 of 2015 w.e.f. 14 May 2015; s. 52 (a) of Act 18 of 2016 w.e.f. 1 November 2016; s. 13 of Act 34 of 2016 w.e.f. 1 January 2017.]