PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Indian major Adani has pulled the trigger on the $16.5-billion Carmichael coal and rail project, in Queensland, announcing a positive final investment decision (FID) just days after striking a tax deal with the state government.

“I am proud to announce the project has FID approval which marks the official start of one of the largest single infrastructure and job creating developments in Australia’s recent history,” said Adani chairperson Gautam Adani on Tuesday.

“This is the largest single investment by an Indian corporation in Australia, and I believe others will follow with investments and trade deals. We have been challenged by activists in the courts, in inner city streets, and even outside banks that have not even been approached to finance the project.

“We are still facing activists, but we are committed to this project,” Adani said.

Adani on Tuesday also signed letters of award for the design, construction, operations, supply of materials and professional services, with the largest of these contracts going to Downer Mining for the construction and operation of the Carmichael mine.

The Indian firm previously awarded an A$82-million contract to Rockhampton-based Austrak for the supply of concrete sleepers for the Carmichael project, and a A$74-million contract with Arrium Mining and Materials for the supply of about 54 000 t of railway tracks.

The company has now also inked a contract for the Carmichael rail network, linking the Galilee basin mines to the port of Abbot Point.

Adani head of country and CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj said the transaction with AECOM would include surveying and design for the rail link.

“We are building more than a rail line,” Janakaraj said.

“We are building a line that will open the Galilee basin, linking that massive coal reserve to markets around the world, generating power, and – importantly – generating many thousands of direct and indirect jobs in regional Queensland.

“In Adani’s case, it will link its Carmichael coal mine to our bulk loading facility at the Port of Abbot Point from where it will be shipped to Adani’s power stations in India.”

The Carmichael coal, railway and port project includes building Australia’s largest thermal coal mine producing some 60-million tonnes a year over a 90-year mine life, linked by a new 388 km standard gauge rail line to a new terminal at Abbot Point port near Bowen.