Indian conglomerate Adani has named the US-based company Parsons Brinckerhoff as its project management contractor for the long-delayed $15-billion Carmichael mine, rail and port project in Australia.
Brinkerhoff, a project management and infrastructure consulting firm, will be Adani’s PMC partner for the Phase 1 contract encompassing Adani’s planned works for the Carmichael mine, North Galilee Basin Rail (NGBR) and expansion at the port of Abbot Point, the company said in a statement.
The Carmichael mine will supply high quality, cost-efficient coal to India and other Asian markets. The mine had received final environmental approval from Australia in August.
The NGBR, the principal component of the company’s planned 388-km rail link from Carmichael to the port at Abbot Point, will be Queensland’s first standard gauge rail line, helping drive lower costs for Adani and other producers. It had received environmental approval from Australia last month.
The port at Abbot Point, which has operated safely and without incident for the past 30 years, will be expanded to help deliver these vital exports from the Galilee Basin to markets in India and throughout Asia, helping to provide energy security and light the lives of millions of families.
Mine, rail, port project
This integrated mine, rail and port project will provide more than 10,000 jobs in Queensland, supply opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses in the state, and deliver a multi-billion dollar royalty stream that will underpin the delivery of essential services in local communities.
Parsons Brinckerhoff will be responsible for leading an integrated Adani/Parsons Brinckerhoff PMC team, delivering and managing assurance services for the various engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts associated with the integrated project on behalf of Adani Mining.
Adani Mining CEO and Australian Country Head Jeyakumar Janakaraj said the Parsons Brinckerhoff contract reflected the growing confidence leading infrastructure firms have in the progress of the company’s integrated mine, rail and port project, as Adani’s integrated project promptly shifts to the build phase.
“Taken together with Adani’s recently concluded agreement with Posco E&C to deliver EPC management for the NGBR, and the recent finalisation of our environmental approvals, as well as the royalty deal with Linc Energy to help drive yet lower production costs, we are well placed to commence construction in the first quarter of 2015 in line with our guidance of first coal in 2017.”
Brinckerhoff’s current PMC portfolio includes major sites such as Roy Hill and, globally, projects with an aggregate value of $100 billion.
Further partnership announcements are anticipated prior to the end of this calendar year, ahead of construction works on some components of the project commencing in Q1, 2015.