GVK Hancock has successfully negotiated term sheets with landholders for around 75% of the rail corridor needed to allow their Galilee Basin coal projects to go ahead.
The rail corridor will be key to operations at GVK’s three proposed new coal mines for Central Queensland: Alpha Coal, Alpha West and Kevin’s Corner.
In a statement the company said, “To date, the project team has undertaken extensive planning and hydrological assessments and landholder engagement for infrastructure along the approved rail corridor connecting the southern end of the Galilee Basin with export markets.
“These assessments take into consideration the unavoidable fact that any rail line from the southern end of the Galilee Basin to the coast must traverse the flood plains of the Belyando
and its tributaries at some stage. ”
“The detailed planning and design work for our rail line meets all of the hydrological requirements of the government’s stringent regulations for crossing such terrain.”
“In addition to the government’s stringent conditions, our rail corridor meets the required flood immunity level with all drainage structures and rail formations designed accordingly.”
“Our planning also incorporates our respective parent companies’ own extensive infrastructure experience to ensure the rail line enables both water to flow in extreme flood events, and to
minimise damage to infrastructure. ”
“GVK Hancock also funded an independent well-respected local expert hydrological consultant to work on behalf of landholders so they could gain peace of mind in relation to all of the
modelling and information that was made available throughout the assessments.
During this engagement, landholders provided additional rainfall data for the modelling and indicated that the model reflected the flood behaviour on their properties.
All questions raised in this engagement process with landholders were answered in a close out report to Queensland’s Coordinator General.
“We recently commenced a Material Change of Use application and are currently in the process of seeking consent from landholders along the rail corridor that we do not have required agreements with.”
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