Five State-owned companies signed a joint venture deal with
Australia's Yilgarn Infrastructure Ltd in Beijing on Friday. They
will bid for a contract to build a large iron ore port at Oakajee
in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
The Mid West is rich in minerals, with at least 8.6 billion tons
of iron ore in reserve.
"But the region is poor in the large-scale port and modern rail
infrastructure needed to bring iron ore to the high-growth markets
of China," said John Saunders, chairman of Perth-based Yilgarn
Infrastructure.
The port will have an annual capacity of 100 million tons, and a
rail network connecting the port to more than five new iron ore
mines located inland. The port-rail project is expected to cost
US$2.5 billion.
Construction is expected to begin in mid-2008 and will be
completed by 2011.
The five Chinese firms are: China Railway Materials Commercial
Corp, China Railway Engineering Corp and China Communications
Construction Co Ltd, which will be responsible for building the
railway and port; and iron ore buyers Sinosteel Corp and Anshan
Iron and Steel Group Corp.
The Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank have
promised financial services for the project. The five Chinese
companies will invest US$2.5 billion to US$3 billion in the
project.
(China Daily August 18, 2007)
