Hong Kong (HKSAR) - The Government intends to allow PCCW Global (HK) Limited to lay a submarine optical fibre cable of approximately 27.35 kilometres in length and 100 millimetres in diameter within an area of approximately 1.37 hectares of foreshore and seabed from Lap Sap Wan at Cape D'Aguilar to offshore southeast waters extending up to the eastern boundary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

The total length of the optical fibre cable in the HKSAR will be about 27.65km. The first 300 metres or thereabouts of the cable from a beach manhole at Lap Sap Wan at Cape D'Aguilar will be encased in a cable duct and buried at a depth of approximately 5m to 10m below the beach or seabed using the Horizontal Directional Drilling method without involving any works over or upon any foreshore and seabed. At approximately 300m to 500m from Lap Sap Wan, where the seabed is rocky and does not have sufficient mud/silt, the submarine cable will be laid on and affixed to the seabed directly.

The width of temporary disturbance to the foreshore and seabed of this section of cable installation will be about 0.5m. From about 500m offshore from Lap Sap Wan onwards, the submarine cable will be buried in marine mud/silt in a narrow trench of approximately 0.5m in width at a depth of approximately 5m below the seabed. Where the submarine cable needs to cross existing telephone cables, the cable burial tool will be readjusted about 50m from the target crossing location to a shallower depth to allow a cushion of seabed material to be placed above the target to be crossed.

Where the submarine cable crosses an existing gas pipeline, it will be surface laid or shallow buried for a distance of approximately 200m.

This optical fibre cable will be part of the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 Cable System (AAE-1) of approximately 25,000km in total length for the purpose of providing telecommunication services to Europe with various landing points in Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa regions. This segment of the AAE-1 will link Hong Kong to Thailand, with a branch to Vietnam and Cambodia.

The proposed works are scheduled to commence in November 2016 and to be completed by August 2017.