China Gets Port of Darwin
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
The Northern Territory (NT) Government in Australia announced the successful bidder for the Port of Darwin – Landbridge Group, based in the People’s Republic of China.
Chinese privately owned energy and infrastructure conglomerate Landbridge Group has won a $A506 million bid to run Australia's Port of Darwin for 99 years, NT's Chief Minister Adam Giles announced.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Northern Territory will lease the Darwin Port land and facilities of East Arm Wharf, including the Darwin Marine Supply Base, and Fort Hill Wharf to Landbridge Group for 99 years.
The three arms of the defence force, the Australian Signals Directorate, the Defence Security Agency and Defence's strategic policy division were all consulted about the 99-year lease to the Landbridge Group.
"No part of defence had a concern from a security perspective," Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson said.
Labor wants the deal examined by the Foreign Investment Review Board while some security analysts say the implications for national security need to be considered.
Landbridge Group already operates a 30 million tonne per annum port in North Haizhou Bay in Shandong province, between Beijing and Shanghai.