Courier Mail
By Patrick Lion
December 08, 2009 02:25pm
QUEENSLAND Rail's coal and freight business will be listed on the sharemarket within a year with eligible employees to be given $1000 worth of shares in the new company.
Premier Anna Bligh has today announced details of the Government's $15b privatisation program, including shifting hundreds of workers at Queensland Rail's remaining passenger business from the Brisbane CBD to Ipswich.
The Government has decided other business will be privatised through long-term lease arrangements including:
- Port of Brisbane under a 99-year lease from mid 2010
- Abbot Point coal terminal near Bowen under a 99-year lease from December 2010
- Queensland Motorways Limited will be offered under a 40-year franchise from mid 2011.
Ms Bligh said Queenslanders would be given priority in the share offering and the new QR National would be based in Brisbane and was expected to be a top 50 ASX company.
However the Government will retain 25 to 40 percent of the new company in the short to medium term to offer the new company stability.
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