GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd has received the Australian Federal Government’s approval for the GVK Hancock project’s Abbot Point Port Capital Dredging programme.
This development finalises ministerial environmental approvals for its Galilee Basin coal assets and associated infrastructure.
For the diversified infrastructure company based in Hyderabad, achieving this final environmental approval from the Federal Government is a significant milestone towards the development of the GVK Hancock Terminal 3 port facilities and Galilee basin coal assets including the Alpha, Alpha west and Kevin’s Corner coal projects, along with the construction of a rail network to Abbot Point.
With this Federal Government nod along with others the company has secured for the Alpha coal mine, the rail at Abbot Point, the company is now in a position to take the project forward and open up the Galilee Basin for the coal project.
G.V.K. Reddy, Chairman of GVK Power, said, "We welcome this Federal Ministerial approval which will help protect the environment whilst creating jobs and bring in economic investment in the State and the region."
”Finalising the last of our environmental approvals represents the culmination of over seven years of the most comprehensive and rigorous environmental assessment process. We have raised the bar on environmental assessments and management by participating in a voluntary Cumulative Impact Assessment for Abbot Point in addition to the work done in obtaining approval last year," he said.
According to the company, this approval enables the mining of billions of tonnes of high quality, low sulphur, low ash and cleaner burning coal for consumption in the Indian and Asian markets.
“This approval takes our projects into the final stage of development and we look forward to successfully developing and consolidating our position as the leading Indian infrastructure development company,” G.V. Sanjay Reddy, Vice-Chairman of GVK Power, said.
GVK had acquired coal mines in Queensland for $1.26 billion and plans to invest up to $10 billion in the mine-cum-rail infrastructure project in Australia. This is expected to be one of the largest integrated coal mining operations when completed. These mines are estimated to host over 8 billion tonnes of coal reserves.