Construction Accelerates on Comoros Games Village for 2027 Indian Ocean Island Games
The 2027 Indian Ocean Island Games Village is rising from the ground at Moindzaza Djoumbé, on the outskirts of Moroni. Backed entirely by a consortium of Comorian financial institutions and directed by former Réunion official Faouzia Vitry, the 200-villa project represents both a massive infrastructural undertaking and a symbol of diaspora leadership.
The landscape at Moindzaza Djoumbé, on the outskirts of Moroni, is changing. What was once empty land is now a sprawling construction site where the future Village for the 2027 Indian Ocean Island Games is rising from the ground, villa by villa.
A few months before what promises to be a landmark event for the Union of the Comoros, construction has entered a highly visible phase. Aerial photographs show circulation roads taking shape, foundations multiplying, and dozens of buildings going up across multiple fronts in parallel.
When President Azali Assoumani announced the goal of building a 200-villa Games Village to house delegations for the 2027 event, the ambition was widely seen as formidable. The task required not only securing financing and contracting construction firms but also delivering within an extremely compressed timeline.
Faouzia Vitry, former Vice-President of the Réunion Island Region in charge of regional cooperation, has taken on the project’s direction. After months spent structuring the initiative and bringing partners together, the work has now moved from planning to execution. In just six weeks, several villas have reached an advanced stage of structural construction, with walls fully erected and concrete roof slabs poured.
A Comorian-Led Financing Model
One of the project’s defining features is its financing. Rather than relying on external aid, the Games Village is funded entirely by a consortium of five Comorian financial institutions: AFG Bank Comores, Exim Bank Comores, Meck Moroni, Union des Meck, and Anjouan Regional Union of Sanduku (URSA).
The Central Bank of the Comoros provides oversight and coordination, while the UCCIA (Union of Comorian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) and the Games Organization Committee (COJI) share governance responsibilities.
Proponents describe the model as proof that Comorian institutions and businesses can unite around a national project of significant scale.
International Expertise Meets Local Ambition
The construction mobilizes both Comorian and international companies, including Chinese firms working on the villas and site infrastructure—a common arrangement in large-scale African development projects.
For Vitry, the role represents a continuation of years spent in Indian Ocean regional cooperation. But it also raises a broader question: what does it mean for a member of the diaspora to return and lead a project of this magnitude in their home country?
The challenge ahead remains steep. Two hundred villas must be completed on schedule. But as the first structures take shape in Moroni, the Games Village is no longer a blueprint—it is a skyline in the making.
