The race to open a $40 billion (R308bn) coal
region in Australia is being led by billionaires Gina Rinehart and Clive
Palmer. Victory depends on who wins approval to build a 500km railroad
to the coast.
Rinehart, 58, Asia-Pacific’s
richest woman, and Indian billionaire GV Krishna Reddy’s GVK Group are
developing a $10bn mine, rail and port project in the landlocked Galilee
Basin in northern Queensland state. Adani Enterprises, India’s biggest
coal importer, has a competing $6.8bn plan to build Australia’s largest
coal mine in the same area.
The proposed Galilee railroad will
allow Australia, already the second-largest shipper of coal for
utilities, to more than double exports as China and India compete for
supplies. Palmer’s China First has threatened an A$8 billion (R66bn)
lawsuit against a fourth rail proponent, QR National, the nation’s
largest coal train operator.
