Indian mining giant Adani on Tuesday said it will start work on a huge US $16 billion coal project that environmentalists warn will damage Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The controversial project -- biggest investment in Australia ever by an Indian company -- encountered numerous regulatory and legal hurdles, leading to seven years of delays, with a lease finally granted last year. The development proposes exporting coal to India from a massive open-cut and underground coal mine 160 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Clermont in central Queensland, home to the reef, via a189-kilometre rail link to port. It also estimates it will generate 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, with pre-construction works starting in the September quarter of 2017.

India's Adani to start work of mine near Great Barrier Reef. (2017, June 7). Manila Times, p. B5.