The Hindu Business Line : ‘Explore investment opportunities in W Australia’

Chennai, July 9 Indian infrastructure companies could explore investment opportunities in Western Australia and help build a competitive infrastructure market, according to Mr Eric Ripper, Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for State Development, Western Australia.

Addressing the Indo Australian Chamber of Commerce and Western Australia Trade Office here, Mr Ripper said that while Australia has huge expertise in infrastructure development, there was not enough competition in the market. Indian companies, while exploring this business opportunity, would also help Western Australia get better value for money.

Western Australia is known as a destination for mineral resources, but as a fast growing economy it is also focussing on developing clusters for a range of manufacturing industries, knowledge-based industries including information and communication technology, and biotechnology.

The strong resources sector has resulted in the development of related services industries. For instance, over 60 per cent of the mining related software is developed in Australia. Indian companies could help support this development, he said.

Mineral resources, a traditional area of investment continues to attract huge investments, he said. Apart from the A$140 billion (Rs 5 lakh crore) private sector investments since 2001, Western Australia has in the pipeline over A$160 billion (Rs 6 lakh crore) more investments, including A$26 billion (Rs 1 lakh crore) by the Government to improve mining-related infrastructure. This sector offers major opportunities for Indian companies, he said.

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