According to a substantial holder notice released to the Australian Securities Exchange, Thiess John Holland made the payment to Bolton’s company, Australian Style Investments, last Wednesday. Bolton had threatened to use his voting rights to wind up BrisConnections, for which Thiess John Holland is building the Airport Link.But Leighton said in a statement yesterday that Thiess John Holland approached ASI last Wednesday to secure its proxies for the BrisConnections extraordinary general meeting.Leighton said it acquired ASI’s voting rights in order to maximise the opportunity to ensure the viability of the project and to secure the jobs of the many thousands of workers, subcontractors, consultants and suppliers contributing to the project.ASI has now appointed Thiess John Holland as its proxy and directed its votes against all resolutions. The deed of agreement was lodged with the ASX yesterday.Leighton said that if BrisConnections was wound up, at least 10,000 direct and indirect jobs related to the project would be lost. The Airport Link is well underway, with more than 1000 people already working onsite. Thiess John Holland said more than $100 million was being spent on the project each month, and that this was forecast to grow to more than $200 million per month as the project reached its peak.The Airport Link is a 6.7km toll road, mainly underground, connecting the North-SouthBypass Tunnel, Inner City Bypass and local road network at Bowen Hills to the northern arterials of Gympie Road and Stafford Road at Kedron, Sandgate Road and the East-West Arterial leading to the airport. Construction work also includes a 750m flyover upgrade of the Airport Roundabout and the construction of the Northern Busway (Windsor to Kedron), to connect the existing Inner Northern Busway at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Herston, with Kedron via Windsor and Lutwyche. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-2012.
