The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Department of Finance proposes to engage a contractor to design, build,
finance, operate and maintain a buried  fibre optic cable system between  the existing fibre-based infrastructure at, or close to, the McGill Lake Microwave Site. approximately 24 km southeast of
the junction of Highway  I  and Highway 7 and the Town of
Inuvik. Northwest Territories. The 17 mm diameter fibre optic cable will be buried in the existing rights-of-way of the Mackenzie Highway (McGill Lake Microwave Site to Wrigley). the Mackenzie
Valley Winter Road (Wrigley to Fort Good Hope) and the Dempster Highway (from KP 258 to Inuvik): and the preferred alignment of the Mackenzie Highway infrastructure corridor between Fort Good
Hopfl and KP 258 of the Dempster Highway south of lnuvik. The cable is proposed to be installed over 2 winter and I summer seasons using standard cable installation techniques. The purpose of the development is to provide a high speed fibre optic communications link to communities along the Mackenzie Valley. replacing the lower-capacity and costlier-to· maintain microwave communications systems currently serving the communities. Please see Section 3.0- Proposed Development in the attached Project  Description Report (PDR) for a detailed description of the
proposed development.