US-based engineering firm AECOM has pulled out of a $2.2bn deal to design a rail line for Indian conglomerate Adani’s $16bn Carmichael coal mine project in the Galilee Basin, Queensland, Australia.
The company has demobilised its staff from the project, according to The Guardian Australia.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Jonathan Moylan said: “This should serve as the final nail in the coffin for this environmentally and economically unsustainable project that most stakeholders have already walked away from.
“Adani Group have shown time and time again that they can’t take this slow-moving trainwreck forward and should scrap it for good.
“The Australian people don’t want it, the banks won’t touch it and now, even key partners who stand to profit handsomely are giving up on Adani.”
The Carmichael project has been facing opposition from environmentalists in Australia and has garnered global attention since protests erupted against the mine over concerns over global warming and damage to the Great Barrier Reef.
The latest development comes after mining services company Downer Group walked out of the project due to a sustained nationwide campaign by protestors.
The Carmichael project is also facing financing issues as Adani missed the March deadline of arranging funds for its development.
In February, Reuters reported that the federal government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) would not provide funding for the rail line.
Adani applied for an A$900m loan from NAIF for a 400km (250-mile) rail line to connect its Carmichael coal mine with the Abbot Point port.
