Five state-owned enterprises (SOEs) of China have signed an agreement with Australian Yilgarn Infrastructure Ltd. to jointly compete for a railway and port project in Australia.

Total investment of the project is estimated to reach between 2.5 billion to 3 billion Australian dollars (around 2.28 billion US dollars). The project will kick off in 2008, scheduled for completion in 2011.

Located in Western Australia, the Yilgarn region has abundant iron ore deposits totalling 8.6 billion tonnes. However, poor transportation and port infrastructure have restricted the development of mineral resources and economic developments in the region.

To develop the region's iron ore industry, the West Australian government plans to build two railways and one port. The railways will run north-south of central and western mine districts in Western Australia, and the planned transport capacity and handling capacity of the port will reach over 0.1 billion tonnes.

The Chinese enterprises, namely the China Railway Materials Commercial Corporation (CRM), Sinosteel, China Railway Engineering Corporation, China Communications Construction Company and Angang Steel are all large-scale state-owned enterprises, ranking high on China's top 500 enterprises list. Yilgarn is an unlisted public company, largely providing railway and port services to mining companies.

The Export-Import Bank of China will provide financial support for the project.