asia submarine cable proposal

7/31/2019 Asia Submarine Cable Proposal

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CONTENTS

1 BASIC INFORMATION 1

1.1 PROJECTTITLE 1

1.2 PURPOSE ANDNATURE OF THEPROJECT 11.3 NAME OFPROJECTPROPO NENT 1

1.4 LOCATION AND SCALE OFPROJECT 1

1.5 DESIGN ATED PROJECTS TO BECOVERED BY THEPROJECTPROFILE 2

1.6 NAME AND TELEPHO NENUMBER O FCONTACTPERSO N 2

2 OUTLINE OF PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME 3

2.1 PROJECTPLA NNIN G A NDIMPLEMENTA TION 3

2.2 PROJECTPROGR AMME 5

3 MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT 6

3.1 LAND & SEAACTIVITIES 6

3.2 SITES O FSPECIAL SCIENTIFICINTER EST 6

3.3 SITES O FCULTURALHERITAGE 6

3.4 GAZETTEDBATHIN GBEACHES 6

3.5 MARIN EPARK O RMARIN ERESER VES 6

3.6 FISHCULTUREZONE 7

3.7 PROTECTIO N AND CONSERVATIONAREAS 7

3.8 SEAW ATER INTA KEPOINTS 7

4 POSSIBLE IMPACTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT 8

4.1 SUMMARY OFPOTENTIALENVIRONMENTA LIMPA CTS 8

4.2 DUST 8

4.3 NOISE 9

4.4 WATER QUALITY 9

4.5 WASTEMANAGEM ENT 10

4.6 LANDSCAPE A ND VISUA L 11

4.7 CULTURAL AND

HERITAGE

114.8 TERRESTRIA LECOLOGY 11

4.9 MARIN EECOLOGY 11

4.10 FISHER IES 12

4.11 OTHERS 12

5 PROTECTION MEASURES AND ANY FURTHER IMPLICATIONS 13

5.1 POSSIBLESEVER ITY, DISTR IBUTIO N ANDDURATION OFENVIRONMENTA LEFFECTS 13

5.2 FURTHERIMPLICA TIONS 13

5.3 USE OFPREVIOUSLYAPPROVEDEIA REPO RTS 13

5.4 ENVIRONMENTA LMONITORING & A UDIT 14


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ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ASIA GLOBAL CROSSING

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1 BA SIC INFOR MATION

1.1 PROJECTTITLEEast Asian Crossing (EAC) Cable System (TKO).

1.2 PURPOSE ANDNATURE OF THEPROJECTAsia Global Crossing Limited (AGC) prop ose to install two interna tional

subm arine fibre-optic telecomm un ication cables that w ill enter eastern w aters

in the H ong Kong Special Admin istrative Region (HKSAR) and ultimately

connect to a Land ing Station at th e Tseung Kwan O (TKO) Indu strial Estate.

The prop osed fibre-optic cables will allow netw ork connection to Taiwan,

Korea, Japan, and ultimately the Mainland of China (see Figure 1.2a), and will

prov ide broad band facilities for accessing internet service provid ers, contentprov iders and e-comm erce prov iders in the HKSAR, ultimately enhancing the

HKSARs capability as a comm un ications and service centre in Asia.

This Project Profile includes an assessment of the poten tial environmental

impacts associated w ith the installation of the submarine telecomm un ications

cable system. The assessment has been based on information comp iled by

Global Marine Systems Ltd and EGS (Asia) Ltd on the expected construction

activities. Once installed, the cable will not result in any impact to the

environment d uring its operation.

A Letter of Intent (LOI) has been issued by the Office of the

Telecommu nications Authority (OFTA) to AGC pu rsuan t to wh ich AGC w ill

be granted an external Fixed Telecommu nications Netw ork System licence in

du e course. The submarine cable system is of great strategic importance to

AGC and to the telecomm un ications n etwork infrastructure of Hon g Kong.

1.3 NAME OFPROJECTPROPO NENTAsia Global Crossing Limited (AGC)

Cheung Kong Centre

46/ F, 2 Queens Road

Central

HON G KONG

1.4 LOCATION AND SCALE OFPROJECT1.4.1 Locat ion

The location of the two EAC cable alignm ents and common land ing site are

depicted on Figures 1.4a an d 1.4b. The prop osed cables would enter the


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HKSAR via the eastern w aters and traverse westward, between the Ninepin

Islands Group and Waglan Island , then travel north, through the Tathong

Channel to a land ing site at the TKO Industrial Estate.

1.4.2 Conditions of t he AreaThere are several existing submarine cables situated along the p roposed EAC

cable route, from its entrance into the H KSAR through the eastern and

southern w aters. The seabed in the general vicinity of the proposed EAC

cables within the Tathong Channel up to the landing site has been generally

disturbed from previous use as designated Marine Borrow Areas. The EAC

land ing site is situated within the TKO Indu strial Estate, behind a rubble

mou nd sea wall, on reclaimed land .

1.4.3 Scale of ProjectThe project involves the laying of two internationa l submarine fibre-optic

telecomm un ications cables in H KSAR waters to a single landing site andmanhole location in the TKO Indu strial Estate. The project will ultima tely

connect with a Land ing Station in the TKO Indu strial Estate wh ich is

presently un der construction and has been app roved by the Buildings

Depar tment (1 April 2000, BD 2/ 9016/ 00(P)). The land ing station is

schedu led for comp letion in Janu ary 2001.

The cable laying p rocess will only result in minor w orks within th e marine

environm ent w hich will not affect water qua lity or the marine ecology of the

area. Only small scale construction w orks are required a t the TKO cable

land ing site to enable the cable to enter the man hole system.

1.5 DESIGN ATED PROJECTS TO BECOVERED BY THEPROJECTPROFILEThe p roject is classified as a Designated Project und er the Technical

Memorandum on Environmental Impact A ssessment Process (TM EIAO):

Schedu le 2 (Part I), C.12 - A d redging op eration w hich ---

(a) is less than 500 m from the nearest boundary of an existing or planned---

(ii) site of cultural heritage.

1.6 NAME AND TELEPHO NENUMBER O FCONTACTPERSO NAll queries regard ing the project can be add ressed to:

Asia Global Crossing Limited (AGC)

Correspond ence shou ld be copied to the following organ isations:

Environmental Resources Managemen t (ERM)

KDD-SCS


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Koo and Partners

2 OUTLINE OF PLANN ING AND IMPLEMENTATION PRO GRAM ME

2.1 PROJECTPLA NNIN G A NDIMPLEMENTA TIONThe project w ill be constructed throu gh the following activities:

Preparation of TKO Landing Site - The seaw all at the TKO landing site willbe opened to allow installation of a bund led package of condu its (8 in total)

between the n ew manh ole (app roximately 5 m inland of the seawall) and

the seabed at th e foot of the seawall. Upon completion of these civil works,

the w orking area w ill be backfilled an d r einstated to its original cond ition.

No materials will be dredged as part of the construction works and all

excavated materials will be balanced on site.

Landing the EAC Cables - Each cable segm ent (cable size of 60 mm ind iameter) will be directly laid a shore (via a floated shore-end operation)

from the construction barge h olding p osition at a d istance of aroun d 100 m

(approximately 4 m w ater dep th) from th e seawall. The cables end w ill be

hau led ashore and anchored off, before allowing the construction barge to

commence lay operations toward th e 20 m contou r.

Cable Laying to HKSA R Boundary - After completion of the landing andanchoring off of the cable, the m ain lay vessel will commence cable laying

while simu ltaneously burying the cable to the reference points (22 dgr13.727N & 114 dgr 15.971E for Segm ent C; 22 dgr 13.655N & 114 dgr

16.304E for Segment D), a distan ce of app roximately 6.5 km , to the -20 m

CD sea bed contour. The d eep bur ial operations w ill be cond ucted u sing

jett ing technology. The Injector will bury th e cable in a n ar row trench

(0.25 m w idth ) to the required depth of up to 5 m below the sea bed. The

Injection Jetting operations w ill be condu cted to the reference points w here

the m ain lay vessel will recover the cables end s, then proceed with

Plough op erations wh ich w ill simu ltaneously lay and bu ry the cable in a

narrow tr ench (0.3 m w idth) to a dep th of 1.5 m below the sea bed from the

-20 m CD sea bed contour to the H KSAR bound ary, app roximately 20 km.A typical example of the typ e of jetting and plough equ ipment that w ill be

used is dep icted in Figure 2.1a and a typ ical example of a cable laying

vessel is dep icted in Figure 2.1b. It should be noted that no materials w ill

be ph ysically dred ged as par t of the cable installation processes, rather,

d isplaced sed iments w ill backfill natu rally in the trench. Further, injection

jett ing and plough share d esign are su ch th at th ey will leave th e seabed

virtually un d isturbed following installation of the cable.

Post Lay Protection at TKO Landing Site - Articulated pip ing (diameter 100mm ) will be app lied over a d istance of 50 m from the conduit exit at thebase of the seawall offshore. This will ensure that the cable is protected

from anticipa ted d ebris at the foot of the seawall. The post lay operations


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will be guided by d ivers and will not result in environmental impacts to

the marine environment.

Final Inspection - A final inspection of the cable will be und ertaken.At this stage of the project, all nearshore and onshore construction w orks are

expected to be un dertaken du ring normal working hours.


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2.2 PROJECTPROGR AMMEThe EAC subm arine cable system is schedu led to be landed and installed at

the TKO land ing site commen cing in early Novem ber 2000 and completed by

the end of December 2000. The expected schedule is as follows:

TKO Landing Site(including backfill and reinstatement of seawall) 30 days Cable Landing 2 day Cable Installation from TKO to the reference points 5 days Post Lay Protection at TKO Landing Site 10 days Shore end recovery by Main Lay Vessel and Burial to SARboundary 2 days Final Inspection 1 day


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3 MAJOR ELEM ENTS OF THE SUR ROUN DING EN VIRONMENT

The locations of the various major elemen ts of the area su rround ing the site

are shown in Figure 3.0a.

3.1 LAND & SEAACTIVITIESThe seabed w ithin the TKO section of the EAC cable alignment has been

disturbed in several areas du e to the designation of Marine Borrow Areas and

from extensive reclamation works that have been undertaken in TKO.

The Tathong Channel is classified as a p rincipal fairway for mar ine vessel

traffic throu gh Victoria Harbour.

The land uses within and around the TKO Indu strial Estate includ e variousindu strial premises and the TKO and South East New Territories (SENT)

Strategic Landfill. The landing site and m anhole for the cable are outside the

landfill consultation zone.

3.2 SITES O FSPECIAL SCIENTIFICINTER ESTThe closest Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is the Shek O Head land

SSSI, approximately 1,000 m from the closest cable segment, and the Cape d

Agu ilar SSSIs situated 665 m from the closest cable segm ent.

3.3 SITES O FCULTURALHERITAGEThe closest designated site of cultural heritage is the relics of the Old Chinese

Custom s Post on Fat Tong Chau (Jun k Island ), which is over 200 m from th e

nearest cable segmen t.

3.4 GAZETTEDBATHIN GBEACHESThe closest Gazetted Bath ing Beaches are Big Wave Bay, Rocky Bay an d Shek

O, which are 1,390 m, 1,120 m, and 1,460 m, resp ectively, from the closest

segmens of the prop osed cable.

3.5 MARIN EPARK O RMARIN ERESER VESThe Cape d Agu ilar Marine Reserve is 665 m from the closest prop osed cable

segment.


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3.6 FISHCULTUREZONEThe Tung Lung Chau Fish Cu lture Zone is situated 2,520 m from th e closest

cable segmen t.

3.7 PROTECTIO N AND CONSERVATIONAREASThere are no designated protection or conservation land uses within 500 m of

the project site. A small strip of land a long Hon g Kong Island and Fat Tong

Chau (Jun k Island ), within 500 m of the cable alignm ent is designated as

Green Belt. This classification d oes not rep resent a conservation d esignated

area.

The EAC cable landing site and manhole location at the TKO Indu strial Estate

is zoned for Other Uses on the TKO Land Use Plan wh ich, accord ing to

Column 1 of the Explana tory Statemen t of Plan No. S/ TKO/ 5, allows for

Radar, Telecommunication Electronic Microwave Repeater, Television and/or RadioTransmitter Installation.

3.8 SEAW ATER INTA KEPOINTSThere is a Water Services Depar tmen t (WSD) intake in the inn er pa rt of Jun k

Bay, 1,260 m to the north of the closest segment of the cables.


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4 POSSIBLE IMPA CTS ON THE ENVIR ON MENT

4.1 SUMMARY OFPOTENTIALENVIRONMENTA LIMPA CTSThe following assessment is based on information compiled by Global Marine

Systems Ltd and EGS (Asia) Ltd for the conceptu al layout plans and theexpected construction activities required for installation of the EAC cables.

The constru ction imp acts associated w ith the subm arine cables are

summ arised in Table 4.1a and are described in furth er detail in the following

sections. There are no environmen tal impacts that are expected to occur

du ring the op eration of the su bmarine cable.

Table 4.1a Potential Sources of Environmental Impacts

Potential Impact

Dust Noise Liquid Effluents, Discharges, or Contaminated Runoff Generation of Waste or By-prod ucts Disruption of Water Movement or Bottom Sediment Unsightly Visual Ap pearance Cultural & Heritage Ecological Impacts:

- Terrestrial

- Marine

- Fisheries

Gaseous Emissions Odour Night-time Operations Traffic Gen eration Manufacturing, Storage, Use, Handling, Transport, or Disposal of

Dangerous Goods

Hazard ous Materials or Wastes

Risk of Acciden ts Which Result in Pollution or H azar d Disposal of Spoil Material, Including Poten tially Contam inated M aterials Notes: = Potential to result in ad verse imp acts, = Not expected to result in adverse imp acts

4.2 DUSTThe only dust generating activities that w ill occur at the p roject site are

construction works at the cable land ing site. The construction w orks will be

small in scale and no significant du st impacts will result from these w orks.


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4.3 NOISEThere are no N oise Sensitive Receivers in the TKO Indu strial Estate and thu s

noise generated during construction of the cable land ing site and manhole

will not result in noise imp acts.

Dur ing the cable laying p rocess, only minimal noise will be generated from

the barge and cable laying equipment w hich w ould be similar to that of

existing marine traffic in the area and will not imp act Noise Sensitive

Receivers. Therefore no d irect or ind irect ad verse noise impacts w ill result

from th is project.

4.4 WATER QUALITYThe potential for impacts to water quality during th e land based activities,

involving cable installation and construction of the cable land ing site and

manhole, primar ily relate to surface water ru n-off and the d ischarge ofpu mp ed w ater. How ever the following measures will be incorporated d uring

the land based construction activities to prevent any ad verse imp acts to water

quality.

Care will be taken d uring r emova l of the section of the seawall to avoidspillage of ma terial to the adjacent m arine w aters;

Surface run -off from the construction site will be directed into storm drainsvia ad equately designed sand / silt removal facilities;

Any w ater pum ped from the excavated trenches will pass through siltremoval facilities prior to d ischarge to storm d rains;

Silt removal facilities, channels and m anh oles will be maintained regularly,at the onset of and after each rainstorm; and

Stockpiles of ma terials will be covered with tarp aulin or similar fabric.The above measu res will be sufficient to p revent ad verse impacts to water

qua lity du ring the land based constru ction activities. Therefore, there are no

pred icted ad verse impacts (either direct or ind irect) to water quality from the

land based constru ction activities.

The mar ine based constru ction activities relate to burying the cables below theexisting sea bed. From the cable land ing point to th e -20 m CD sea bed

contour, which is app roximately 6.5 km along the cable route, the cable will

be buried up to 5 m below the existing sea bed u sing a barge m ounted

injection tool. This bur ial dep th is to be prov ided for navigational

requirements in the Tathong Channel and to provide protection to the cables.

The injection jetting tool utilises water injector technology to fluidise the sea

bed sed iments, wh ich enables the injection tool to penetrate the sea bed to the

desired d epth an d lay the cable. The cable segmen ts will be laid sequentially

(ie. one segmen t will be completed p rior to laying the second). The shortest

period of time that th e cables could be installed in th is area w ould be oneworking day. The maximum sp eed of laying of each segmen t will be


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app roximately 1.1 km h our -1. The maximu m w idth of disturbance of the sea

bed sur face will be 0.25 m.

From the -20 m CD sea bed contou r to the mar ine bound ary of the HKSAR the

cable will be buried to a dep th of 1.5 m u sing the plough ing meth od,

dep loyed from the main lay vessel. The plough is a simp le mechan ical device

which opens up a v-shaped n otch in the sea bed in front of the cable, into

which the cable is laid. After placement of the cable the sides of the notch

collapse, burying the cable below the sea bed. The speed of the p lough v essel

is expected to be ap proximately 2.5 km hou r-1. The maximum w idth of

disturbance of the surface of the sea bed w ill be 0.3 m. The plough ing meth od

of cable laying is considered to be less disrup tive to sea bed sedimen ts than

the u se of an injection tool.

Cable laying w ill result in the formation of an area of high suspend ed

sedimen t concentrations around both the injection tool and the p lough, wh ich

will remain close to the seabed and will settle out qu ickly. However, as the

sedimen t disturbed du ring cable laying will remain in susp ension for a very

short p eriod of time the poten tial for release of contam inants from seabed

sedimen ts and exertion of the oxygen dem and on the receiving waters will be

limited and is not expected to cause adverse imp acts to the water column .

Analysis of the poten tial transp ort of fine sedimen ts suspend ed in the water

colum n for cable laying w ith the injection tool was und ertaken an d

determined that the sediments w ould settle onto the sea bed in less than 3

minutes and that the maximum distance of transport for the suspend ed

sedimen ts wou ld be less than 90 m. For cable laying using the ploughing

meth od of constru ction, the sedim ents were predicted to remain in

suspension for less than 1 minute and wou ld be transp orted less than 60 m

from the cable route. As nearby sensitive receivers (includ ing Gazetted

Beaches, SSSI, Marine Reserve, the Fish Culture Zone at Tung Lung Chau, and

the WSD seawater intake at Jun k Bay) are more than 500 m aw ay from the

cable routes, the sites will not be imp acted by the cable installation w ork. No

long term disruption of bottom sediment w ill occur and no d isrup tions to

water movem ent will result from this project. Therefore, no adverse imp acts

to water qu ality will occur du ring the marine w orks.

4.5 WASTEMANAGEM ENTDur ing the cable land ing work , no waste ma terial will be generated a t the site,

other than general construction w aste materials, which w ill be hand led and

disposed of in accordance with the Waste Disposal Ordinance. There will be no

dredged materials and any excavated material will be balanced on site.

Therefore, no adverse waste impacts (either direct or ind irect) will be

generated from cable installation and construction of the cable land ing site or

manhole.


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4.6 LANDSCAPE A ND VISUA LSince the cable condu it will be und ergroun d an d the submarine cables are

buried in the seabed, no visua l obstruction or inconven ience to the public is

expected to occur.

4.7 CULTURAL ANDHERITAGEThe closest cultural heritage site, the Old Chinese Customs Station, is over 200

m from the cable routes and will not be impacted by the p roject as it is based

on land and cable laying is a marine operation. No imp acts to terrestrial

archaeological resources w ill result from th is project.

The proposed cable laying method will only have a minimal impact on the

seabed sedimen ts with a width of distu rbance of 0.3 m. Although the

Tathong Channel area is known to be an ancient shipping r oute, dating back

to the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279 AD), there has been a large am oun t of sandborrowing activity and reclamation w ork in the area w hich h as altered th e

nature of the seabed. Hyd rodynam ic cond itions in the Tathong Chann el are

influenced by both tidal curr ents and oceanic water movemen ts. Due to the

highly disturbed na ture of the site, as a result of the prevailing hyd rodynam ic

cond itions and the history of dredging and reclamations along the Tathong

Channel and Tseun g Kwan O coastlines, there is little potential for remaining

in situ marine archaeological deposits in the imm ediate vicinity and along the

prop osed cable routes. A mar ine archaeological investigation has confirmed

that th ere are no u nd erwater features of potential archaeological significance

that w ould be impacted by the project. As such, no impacts to marinearchaeological resources will occur.

4.8 TERRESTRIA LECOLOGYThe cable land ing site is situated on reclamation w hich holds no impor tant

terrest rial ecological resou rces. No impacts to terrestrial ecology will arise

from th is project.

4.9 MARIN EECOLOGYA review of the existing information on the m arine ecological resources

surround ing the cable routing h as identified the area as sup porting benthic

fauna w hich are similar in natu re to other areas of Hong Kong. The cable

laying process will only result in short term direct impacts to the subtidal soft

bottom h abitats and assemblages present on the art ificial seawall at the

land ing point. However, these assemblages are comm only recorded

elsewhere in H ong Kong w aters, and n o species that are either of ecological

importance, or that are considered rare, would be imp acted, the short term

loss of benthic organisms d irectly along the cable routes is not considered to

represent an unacceptab le ecological imp act. The rap id natu ral reinstatement


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of the seabed w ill result in the area being available for prom pt recolonisation,

and hence, no perm anent impacts would occur.

A nu mber of areas in the vicinity of the proposed cables route have been

identified as supp orting coral assemblages of ecological interest. However,

the coral assemblages are located at sufficient distance (at least 190 m) from

the alignment of the cables to indicate that imp acts will not occur. Similarly,

no ad verse impacts to the Cap e dAguilar Marine Reserve are expected to

occur as any d ispersing plumes of suspended sediments from the prop osed

injection an d plough method s used in the d eployment of the cables are

pred icted to be localised (settling ou t within 90 m from the cable alignment)

and short term in n ature (see Section 4.4). As such, no imp acts would occur.

4.10 FISHER IESThe majority of the catches reported by fishermen opera ting in the waters are

low valu e bottom d welling crustaceans or small fast growing pelagic species

of low commercial value. The proposed cable routes pass throu gh seasonalspaw ning grou nd s for two commercial species. One Fish Culture Zone (FCZ)

lies within close proximity to the prop osed cable routes, nam ely at Tun g Lung

Chau , which is the 8th largest FCZ in Hong Kong.

Minor interruptions to fishing operations are expected to occur on ly du ring

the cables dep loyment ph ase. However, these disruptions will be minimal as

the time requ ired for the cable deploym ent is pred icted to be only a few d ays.

As a r esult, increases in marine traffic, and hence, disturban ce to fishing

activities in the area, are small scale, and thus, are not expected to be of

concern.

Indirect imp acts may occur th rough elevation in suspended solids resulting

from th e disturbance of the seabed du ring deployment. How ever, as any

poten tial disturban ce to the seabed is likely to be m inimal, localised and of a

short du ration, no unacceptable imp acts have been predicted to occur to

fisheries resources, including spaw ning grou nd s, or fishing operations,

includ ing aquaculture activity at Tung Lung Chau FCZ, as a result of the

proposed cable deployment and installation.

4.11 OTHERSGaseous Emissions: Only a small amoun t of gaseous emissions (SO2 an d

NOx) from d iesel-powered equipm ent wou ld be generated d uring

construction of the cable land ing site at the TKO Indu strial Estate seawall.

These emissions will not impact Air Sensitive Receivers.

Odour: No odou r imp acts are expected to occur as a result of this project.

Traffic Generation: Only m inimal traffic is expected to be generated as aresult of the project and this will not gen erate significant n oise or gaseous

emissions.


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Dangerous Goods: No d angerou s goods will be involved in this project.

Night-time Operations: It is expected th at all cable laying and burial work

will be performed within the inshore area during normal w orking hou rs.

Hazard ous Materials or Wastes: No h azardous materials or w astes will be

generated by this project.

Risk of Accidents Resulting in Pollution or Hazard: No p ollution or hazard

generating accidents w ill result from this project.

Disposal of Spoil or Contaminated Material: There will be no d isposal of

spoil or contam inated m aterials, hence no imp acts are expected to resu lt from

this project.

5 PROTECTION MEASURES AN D AN Y FURTHER IMPLICATION S

5.1 POSSIBLESEVER ITY, DISTR IBUTIO N ANDDURATION OFENVIRONMENTA LEFFECTS

The constru ction of the port ion of subm arine cable system in H ong Kong

waters is expected to take between 35 and 50 days. The residu al

environm ental imp acts of the w orks activities are predicted to be localised to

the imm ediate vicinity of the cable alignmen t and of low severity and , henceare considered to be acceptable.

No environm ental imp acts are predicted du ring the operation of the

submarine cable.

5.2 FURTHERIMPLICA TIONSThe geotechn ical environmen t of the prop osed land ing point has been

confirmed to be suitable for submar ine cable land ing by electronic surveys.

The method s used for bu rying the EAC Subm arine Cable System, as described

in Section 2.1, have been used arou nd the world for more than one century

and are widely accepted to have no impact on the surround ing environm ent.

The working period is normally very short and no w aste or contaminant

disposal issues or excessive noise will be generated by such an operation.

5.3 USE OFPREVIOUSLYAPPROVEDEIA REPO RTSSimilar recent projects that are being/ have been condu cted in the HKSAR

includ e the following:


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East Asian Crossing (EA C) Cable System, A sia Global Crossing. The ProjectProfile for this stud y w as subm itted to th e EPD on 30 Jun e 2000 and is

currently being processed.

Submarine Cable Landing Installation in Tong Fuk Lantau for Asia Pacific Cable

Network 2 (APCN 2) Fibre Optic Submarine Cable System, EGS . The Project

Profile for this stud y w as subm itted to th e EPD in May 2000. The stud y

conclud ed that there would be no adv erse long term or cumulative

effects/ impacts to the environment and the Environmental Permit was

issued on 26 July 2000 (EP-069/ 2000).

Telecommunication Installation at Lot 591SA in DD 328, Tong Fuk, SouthLantau Coast and the Associated Cable Landing Work in Tong Fuk, South Lantau

for the north Asia Cable (NAC) Fibre Optic Submarine Cable System. The

Project Profile for th is study was subm itted to the EPD in March 2000

(AEP-064/ 2000). The stud y concluded that there would be no adverse long

term or cumu lative effects/ impacts to the environment and the

Environm ental Perm it w as gran ted in Jun e 2000 (EP-064/ 2000).

Cable Landing W ork in Deep W ater Bay for SEA -ME-WE 3 Fibre OpticSubmarine Cable System, Hong Kong Telecom. The Project Profile for this

stud y was subm itted to the EPD in May 1998 (AEP-001/ 1998). The study

conclud ed that there would be no adv erse long term or cumulative

effects/ impacts to the environment. The Environmental Permit was

granted July 1998 (EP-001/ 1998).

5.4 ENVIRONMENTA LMONITORING & A UDITNo environmental monitoring and aud it measures have been recomm ended

for this project.

asia submarine cable proposal

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