Terry O’Connor points to a vacant plot of land overgrown with weeds as he outlines his Chinese employers’ A$1bn-plus investment plan for Darwin, a city in Australia’s sparsely populated far north.
“Work should begin here on a luxury resort by year’s end,” says the chief executive of Darwin Port — a sprawling collection of quays, land and buildings bought in 2015 by Landbridge, a Chinese company founded by billionaire Ye Cheng.
The acquisition is part of what KPMG says is a A$30bn (US$23bn) Australian spending splurge by Chinese investors over the past two years, which has helped the nation’s economy prosper despite the end of a once-in-a-generation mining boom.