Ahmedabad: Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has reaffirmed her government’s commitment to Adani Group’s $16.5 billion Carmichael mine project, the company said in a statement.
The reaffirmation came during a visit by a high-level Queensland delegation led by Palaszczuk to the group’s Mundra port in Gujarat on Friday.
“My visit here shows that Queensland supports the Adani project for its potential to create many jobs...and will also help boost the Indian economy. Queensland will also be part of the solar project of Adani and we are delighted to be part of Adani in that project too,” the statement quoted her as saying.
Her visit to Gujarat came a day after an Australian delegation submitted an open letter addressed to Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, urging him to call off the coal mine project.
A group of protesters submitted an open letter signed by about 90 Australians including former cricket captains Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell, to Adani group’s corporate headquarters in Ahmedabad on Thursday. They claimed that the Carmichael project would put the Great Barrier Reef into peril and said that the group should invest in solar energy instead.
Last year, the Queensland state’s department of environment and heritage protection (EHP) issued a final environmental authority (EA) for Adani’s Carmichael Mine project in the Galilee Basin.
The Queensland premier is also scheduled to visit Kamuthi in Tamil Nadu to see the world’s largest solar project set up by Adani group with a capacity to generate 648 MW of electricity.
“Our mining project will create economic prosperity and creation of thousands of jobs for the people of regional Queensland. The Carmichael mine will help bring energy security to millions of Indians who do not have access to electricity. The Adani group is committed to nation building projects in the energy and infrastructure space which will create economic and social benefits for people of India and Australia,” Gautam Adani said in the statement.
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