April 2009 News
Thursday 30th April 2009
QR rolls out track maintenance technology - April 29th
QR is ready to roll out a new $28 million track maintenance machine, a 180m long, 740 tonne, fully automated behemoth which will grind train tracks in regional Queensland. The US built and Australian assembled machine, the largest in the southern hemisphere will commence work on the Goonyella coal network later this month. Click here for full story
ASIC 'misled' lawyers - April 29th
THE corporate watchdog misled lawyers leading a $150 million class action against Multiplex, a Federal Court judge has found.
Justice Alan Goldberg said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission "deliberately refrained" from telling shareholders suing Multiplex why it did not want to hand over key evidence. The evidence was gathered during an investigation into the company's alleged failure to disclose problems at its Wembley Stadium project in London.Click here for full story
Better Schools at Better Value PPPs Work for QLD - April 25th
The announcementthat the Aspire Schools consortium has been awarded the PPP contract to deliver seven new, state-of-the-art public schools in South East Queensland is great news for students, teachers and taxpayers says Infrastructure Partnerships Australia – the nation’s peak infrastructure body. “The successful procurement of this project shows that the right projects will continue to attract private sector interest and investment, in spite of global financial turbulence. Click here for full story
SE Qld infrastructure funds to focus on transport - April 28th
The chairman of Infrastructure Australia says initial projects under the Building Australia Fund will focus on transport. The first round is expected to be announced as part of next month's Federal Budget.Click here for full story
Woodside warns emissions scheme could jeopardise jobs - April 28th
WA oil and gas producer Woodside has warned the Federal Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme will threaten the creation of thousands of jobs in the liquefied natural gas sector. Click here for full story
Thursday 23rd April 2009
Local builder to be named soon for Southport tower - April 23rd
KOREAN construction giant Lotte Engineering is a week away from selecting a local builder for the $220 million Victoria Towers at Southport. The job will prove a much-needed boost to the flagging Gold Coast construction industry and will directly employ up to 300 workers on site.Click here for full story
WorleyParsons' Saudi project flourishes - April 23rd
Mining services company WorleyParsons Ltd says its revenue from a Saudi Arabian phosphate project has almost doubled because the development of the mine and associated facilities will take longer than expected. The company's contract revenue for Saudi Arabian miner Ma'aden's phosphate project would rise to $US117 million ($A166.03 million) from $US67 million ($A95.08 million), the Sydney-based WorleyParsons said in a statement on Thursday. Click here for full story
Victoria slurps Murray as SA dams - April 17th
As public submissions close on the environmental impact of the proposed Wellington dam, SA Liberal senator Simon Birmingham has called for a halt to a controversial pipeline which would draw even more water from the stressed river. The Sugarloaf pipe would take an extra 75 billion litres of water a year from the Murray-Darling Basin to supply Melbourne. Click here for full story
Big contractors snare stimulus school jobs - Apr 18th
SEVEN large contractors, including Bovis Lend Lease, received a $2.8 billion boost yesterday, when the NSW Government awarded them contracts. The state was spending funds from the federal Government's stimulus program for primary schools. They had been appointed "managing contractors", each responsible for assigning up to $400million of expenditure in 10 regions throughout NSW. The program has to be completed within 24 months. Click here for full story
United wins $230m Woodside contract for Pluto - Apr 17th
Engineering firm United Group has won a $230 million contract to carry out work at Woodside Petroleum’s liquefied natural gas project on WA's North West coast. UGL Resources, a subsidiary of UGL, has secured a contract to help build the LNG train at Woodside's $12 billion Pluto LNG processing facility, located on the Burrup Peninsula.Click here for full story
Thursday 16th April 2009
Economic downturn in Dubai hurting Australian companies - Apr 16th
Once known as the fastest growing city on earth, Dubai's fortunes are reversing rapidly. The turnaround is taking its toll on local companies that flocked to the once booming city, with construction firm Leighton Holdings today announcing its pulling out of a $2 billion airport project. Click here for full story
Leighton JV withdraws from Dubai Airport project - Apr 16th
Leighton Holdings advises that the Al Habtoor Leighton - Murray & Roberts - Takenaka joint venture will withdraw from the Dubai Airport Concourse 3 project due to the inability to conclude an acceptable contract with the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation. Click here for full story
Opus cuts costs, but NZ business holding up - Apr 16th
Infrastructure manager Opus International is cutting its capital expenditure in half and bringing the pursuit of new acquisition to a virtual standstill as it responds to the global downturn. The company's businesses in the United Kingdom and Australia, where it has already cut jobs, are continuing to struggle. But the firm says it is seeing no sign of the downturn in Canada, and expects to maintain current levels of activity in New Zealand, where it still derives the bulk of its earnings. Opus is primarily involved in public works in both countries so can be expected to benefit from increased government spending on infrastructure. Click here for full story
The little coal train CAN get up the hill, but Queensland Rail is being cautious - Apr 15th
QUEENSLAND Rail says that despite the declining economic climate the number of stowed coal trains has fallen in recent weeks due to an increase in demand for services. Click here for full story
Thiess John Holland takes action to secure at least 10,000 jobs - Apr 14th
The $4.8 billion Airport Link project is a vital piece of infrastructure for the people of Queensland and will create at least 10,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction. Thiess John Holland is building the landmark transport project which is well underway, on budget and on time. More than 1000 people are already working directly on site. Click here for full story
Construction project awarded for Lotus Glen Project - Apr 13th
The $445 million expansion and refurbishment of Lotus Glen Correctional Centre reached another milestone last week with Thiess Limited being awarded the construction contract... “The expansion will not only provide local jobs during the construction phase, but also up to an extra 140 correctional staff when finished,” Mr Mulherin said. Click here for full story
Leighton lands $500m Pilbara rail contract - Apr 13th
BHP Billiton has awarded a $500 million Pilbara rail contract to Leighton Contractors, a subsidiary of construction giant Leighton Holdings, and Macmahon Contractors. Leighton Contractors and Macmahon (17 per cent owned by Leighton) will develop a railway line for BHP Billiton Iron Ore's Rapid Growth Project 5 in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Click here for full story
Tourist dive stalls airport expansion - Apr 13th
MORE than $1.7 billion worth of construction at Brisbane airport has been deferred due to a fall in tourist numbers. Work on a $700 million domestic terminal expansion and a $1 billion parallel runway were due for completion by 2015 but are likely to be pushed back by several years. Click here for full story
RTA Spends $23 million on office move - Apr 13th
The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) has spent more than $23 million to move its head office five kilometres to a new destination. Almost $1 million of that money was spent on chairs alone and $200,000 was spent on relocating staff, News Limited reports. Other expenses included $2.5 million for desks, $1.5 million for partitions and $136,000 for blinds. Click here for full story
Water more precious than gold: environmentalist - Apr 13th
Concerns have been raised about the effect a proposed open cut mine could have on water supply in the south-east of New South Wales. Capital Mining Limited has submitted a development application to build a $7 million gold, zinc and copper mine at Chakola, just north of Cooma. Click here for full story
Xstrata axes Leonora underground project - Apr 11th
Swiss mining giant Xstrata has taken the axe to its WA nickel operations, just over a year after paying a top-ofthe-cycle $3.1 billion for Jubilee Mines, by deciding to mothball the Sinclair mine near Leonora. Although Xstrata insists the Sinclair underground development, critical to keep the mine open, is only being deferred, the decision will cost about 150 jobs. Click here for full story
Toro joins Mega in uranium race - Apr 11th
Toro Energy has joined Mega Uranium in the race to become WA’s first uranium producer after lodging a mining lease application over its Wiluna project. The application covers the Lake Way deposit, which forms part of its 100 per cent-owned Wiluna uranium project where it has a 23.9 million pound resource. Toro managing director Greg Hall said the lease application was intended to provide certainty of tenure, with the company still needing to apply separately for a formal mining licence if it decided to develop the mine. Click here for full story
How green was my valley: Gunns a step closer to resurrecting pulp mill - Apr 11th
IT'S back. One of Australia's most divisive development projects, Gunns Ltd's $2.2 billion Bell Bay pulp mill in Tasmania, will be under construction by September if the company secures backing from predominantly offshore investors. That is looking increasingly likely as the first shoots of recovery appear in capital markets. Equity prices are rising, debt funding is becoming obtainable and an appetite for risk is reappearing. Click here for full story
Gladstone layoffs show need for industrial diversity - Apr 10th
With Queensland's minerals sector axing about 5,000 jobs since late last year, many communities dependent on the sector are worried about the future. In central Queensland's Gladstone, Rio Tinto is one of the city's biggest employers and this week it announced at least 600 jobs would be cut at its alumina projects, on top of 100 at its Weipa bauxite mine. Click here for full story
Jostle to succeed Leighton's King - Apr 10th
LEIGHTON HOLDINGS has announced management changes amid jostling to eventually succeed Wal King, one of Australia's longest serving chief executives. Click here for full story
Thursday 9th April 2009
Santos LNG project "progressing well" - Apr 6th
The projects presidents, Mr Wilkinson said "I think it's very important to look at just who's moving ahead according to schedule and the Gladstone LNG project with Santos and Petronas, the 40% partner, are meeting those deadlines very clearly and maintaining leadership." He said the 13-thousand page Environmental Impact study will be available for public scrutiny in about four to six weeks. Click here for full story
Mosaic Oil to Acquire Santos's Interest in Surat-Bowen Basin - Apr 8th
Australian oil and gas producer Mosaic Oil has signed an agreement with Santos to acquire Santos's interest in several production licenses with the associated pipeline licenses, production facilities, gas sales contracts and exploration permits in the southern Surat-Bowen Basin, Queensland. Click here for full story
Light rail business case released - Apr 9th
An independent business case for light rail in Canberra commissioned by the ACT Government to support its application for Commonwealth funding through Infrastructure Australia (IA) was released today by Chief Minister and Minister for Transport Jon Stanhope. Prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the business case was requested by the Commonwealth after the ACT Government listed light rail as one of nine projects it believed worthy of co-funding through the Commonwealth's Building Australia Fund. Click here for full story
