THE ASIA Pacific Consortium has been chosen to build, own and oper-ate the Adelaide to Darwin railway.
The consortium won the recom-mendation from the AustralAsia Railway Corporation and was recently endorsed by the Northern Territory Government and the South Australian Cabinet.
AustralAsia Railway Corporation chairman Rick Allert recently met with the Asia Pacific Consortium to discuss the terms and conditions for remaining negotiations, which are expected to be completed by Sept-ember or October.
All contractual arrangements should be completed by November, with construction commencing early next year.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke, South Australian Premier John Olsen and Prime Minister John Howard recently entered into discussions about the project, including the level of extra contributions.
Mr Burke and Mr Olsen said it was fair to say some additional public contribution will be required.
“We expect it will not be a figure that is unmanageable,” they said.
Asia Pacific was chosen from three consortia short-listed from more than thirty corporations who expressed interest.
