SEYCHELLES SUBMARINE CABLE PROJECT

The project entails installation and operation of a submarine fibre optic cable connecting the Seychelles internationally.

The deployment of this submarine fibre-optic cable would result in the development of international telecom transmission capacity to Seychelles. The cable would drastically increase the available capacity to the country, further enabling provisioning of bundled and innovative services such as e-healthcare and e-learning solutions – ones that are critical for distant locations such as Seychelles. The resulting improvements carry also other benefits such as creating favourable business environment. Accordingly, the project would result in a wide range of socioeconomic benefits to the country.

Telecommunication and specifically submarine cable projects are not specifically listed in EU Directive 97/11/EC as requiring Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The conclusion of an ESIAS prepared for the promoter is that with the application of standard mitigation measures and industry best practices in the project design and implementation plans the Project will have a high level of environmental and social acceptability.

The comparison among the various technical options open to the project and the procurement procedures followed by the promoter for the award of the main contract will be assessed during the appraisal. The EIB will insure that procurement decisions taken are in the best interest of the project and in respect of legal conditions.