Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Ordinance, Cap.499

Application for Permission to Apply Directly for an Environmental Permit

Application No.: DIR-155/2007

Project Title: VSNL Intra Asia Submarine Cable System – Deep Water Bay

Conditions Imposed under Section 5(12) of the Ordinance

for Permission to Apply Directly for Environmental Permit

1. All measures described in the Project Profile (No. PP- 324/2007) submitted by the project proponent on 31 August 2007 shall be fully implemented.

2. The project proponent shall, prior to or at the same time as the application for Environmental Permit, submit a plan (within the boundary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)) with reference coordinates, showing the alignment of the proposed cable routing. The plan shall also show that the proposed cable routing will comply with the Condition No. 3 below.

3. The project proponent shall, prior to or at the same time as the application for Environmental Permit, submit a report of a geophysical survey to identify and clarify any anomaly within the proposed cable corridor as proposed in the Project Profile (No. PP- 324/2007). The proposed cable routing shall be revised to avoid any anomaly identified, unless it can be demonstrated that the anomaly is not of marine archaeological significance.

4. To minimize water quality impact during construction of the Project, the maximum forward speed of the cable laying jetting machine shall be no more than 1km per hour.

5. To minimize water quality impact during the construction of the Project, no marine work shall be carried out within 200m of the Deep Water Bay Beach during the bathing season from 1 April to 30 October inclusive.

6. To monitor the environmental impacts and the implementation of recommended mitigation measures and to answer potential public enquiries, the project proponent shall implement environmental monitoring and audit (EM&A) programme during construction stage. The project proponent shall set up and maintain a dedicated web site to place the monitoring and site auditing data throughout the construction stage. An EM&A Manual shall be deposited prior to commencement of the Project.

Note

Under section 17 of the EIA Ordinance, the applicant may appeal to the Appeal Board against any of the above conditions within 30 days of the receipt of this notice of the Director’s decision.

Environmental Protection Department

October 2007