Mayor hails Adani ‘green light’ announcement

Adani Australian chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj gave the “green light’ for the projects at an announcement at Adani’s North Queensland headquarters in Townsville.

Mayor Liz Schmidt was in Townsville on Wednesday for the Adani announcement.

Cr Schmidt said Charters Towers Regional Council had put in a lot of effort to ensure there will be benefits for Charters Towers from the $16.5 billion project.

“I travelled to India in March for a two-day flying visit along with seven other regional mayors and the Premier as part of a North Queensland local government and business delegation on a familiarisation tour at the invitation of Adani,” Cr Schmidt said.

“That visit was an eye opener for all of us and revealed the depth of Adani’s business operations in India.

“The visit also reinforced the strength of the Adani corporation and the opportunities they were offering Queensland and particularly North Queensland through the Carmichael mine project.”

Cr Schmidt said Council representatives have also been part of Adani procurement seminars that have been recently staged.

“We attended these seminars to ensure we were up to date with every opportunity that was likely to come to the Charters Towers region when the Carmichael mine project development begins,” she said.

Charters Towers has already been identified as on the route to transport heavy mining equipment from the Port of Townsville to the Carmichael mine site.

Businesses in the Charters Towers region are also likely to access opportunities as the mine construction phase ramps up to get involved in various aspects of contract work.

The Carmichael mine site is located in the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland. The site is in the Isaac Regional Council region which adjoins the southern boundary of Charters Towers Regional Council.