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

The Chinese enterprises, namely the China Railway Materials Commercial Corporation (CRM), Sinosteel, China Railway Engineering Corporation, China Communications Construction Company and Angang Steel, planned to acquire a 50 percent stake of the Perth-based Yilgarn, which is an unlisted public company, largely providing railway and port services to mining companies.

Total investment of the project, located in the mid-west Australia, is estimated to reach between 2.5 billion to three billion Australian dollars (2.28 billion U.S. dollars). The project will kick off in 2008 and be completed in 2011.

Yilgarn region in West Australia boasts proved reserves of iron ores totaling 8.6 billion tons, but poor transportation infrastructure facilities have restricted the development of mineral resources and economic development in the region.

As the world's largest iron ore importer, China bought 326.3 million tons of iron ores in 2006, 38.85 percent of which from Australia, making Australia the biggest iron ore exporter to China, according to figures from the Chinese customs.