Queensland Government Vetoes Plan To Support Loan To Adani In Australia
In a setback to India's energy giant Adani, the newly-elected Queensland government has vetoed a plan to give a $900-million concessional loan for the construction of a rail line in the controversy-hit Carmichael coal mine project in Australia.
The Adani group had applied for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) loan worth $900 millionfor building the 388 km rail line to connect the major coal mine to the sea port. The $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine project is one of the world's largest.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, after being sworn in, wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to veto an almost $1 billion concessional loan for the Adani mine, Brisbane Times reported.
She also tweeted a photo of her letter, fulfilling a major poll promise she had made during the election campaign to put a stop to the NAIF loan on her first day.
As I committed during the election campaign, I have today written to the Prime Minister exercising Queensland's veto over any NAIF funding for the Adani rail line. #qldpol pic.twitter.com/HSjd9Ar8Bp
December 12, 2017Last month, after reports of conflict of interest emerged, Palaszczuk said her government will exercise its ‘veto' to not support the NAIF loan to remove doubt about any perception of conflict.
Meanwhile, an Adani Australia spokesperson said in a statement that the company will now fully consider and adjust to the constraints the veto of NAIF funding brings.
We would not be investing our time, money and energy in this manner if our projects were not viable and if we were not serious about delivering our projects which will ultimately generate more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs across all of our projects.Adani Australia SpokespersonAdani Australia currently employs over 800 people and has invested over $3.3 billion in Queensland, which is one of the biggest investments by an Indian company in Australia, it said.
“We congratulate Premier Palaszczuk on her government's election and look forward to working closely and cooperatively with the state and federal governments and regulatory authorities as we get on with the job of making all of our projects a reality. In particular, the Carmichael Mine has been verified by independent third parties to be in the first quartile of the cost of production in the global cost curve for seaborne thermal coal,” the statement added.
The projects are viewed in a positive light by the Queensland government and considered as critical infrastructure investments, it said, adding that the projects continue to retain the support of the Queensland government.
“Adani Australia's Carmichael Mine and associated infrastructure, along with all of our Australian projects, will strengthen the relationship between Australia and India, creating even more opportunities for trade and jobs into the future,” the statement added.
Earlier this month, two of China's major state-run banks said they have no plans to finance the Carmichael coal mine project.
Also Read: Adani Dealt Fresh Blow As Three Banks Refuse To Fund Its Coal Project
The Carmichael project, expected to create hundreds of jobs in Australia, has been facing opposition from environmentalists and indigenous groups.
The Indian energy giant has for over five years battled the opposition to any expansion of the Abbot Point port, saying it will cut into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
The Adani group entered Australia in 2010 with the purchase of the greenfield Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland, and the Abbot Point port near Bowen in the north.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
