oakajee project faces fresh hurdle

The troubled $6 billion Oakajee port and rail project has been thrown into a further state of disarray following comments by West Australian Premier Colin Barnett that his original preferred northern rail line may not be built ahead of a smaller capacity souther rail corridor, according to a report by The Australian Financial Review.

Mr Barnett's comments suggest a further hurdle for the iron ore port that may delay its planned 2015 start date.

Mr Barnett also said yesterday that Oakajee proponent Mitsubishi and Chinese state-owned enterprises and banks are expected to meet in Beijing sometime before the end of February in an effort to get the project back on track.

“There is a major meeting in Beijing in the next few weeks ... and that will be the critical meeting in hopefully bringing China formally into the project,” Mr Barnett told Fairfax Radio, according to the AFR.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Oakajee-project-faces-fresh-hurdle-pd20120208-RAQQV?OpenDocument