Leighton to run eye over Riverina project

With EnviroMission yet to secure any financing or planning approval for the $1 billion project, chief executive Roger Davey said his company ``will have enough money to get this through to a bankable stage" within 12 months. ``I don't believe we'll have problems raising the money," he said.

If built, the 130-metre wide tower near the town of Buronga in the Riverina will be more than twice the height of the world's tallest building, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

The project will also require 10,000 hectares of collectors to power turbines inside the tower with rising hot air. Power will be supplied to up to 200,000 homes.

Leighton is expected to complete its appraisal in six months.

Yesterday's announcement comes two weeks after EnviroMission raised $750,000 in equity from an ``overseas investor group".

A week earlier a cash flow statement revealed the company had just $176,000 left at the end of September after burning $344,000 in the previous quarter.

Mr Davey said EnviroMission's 38.5 per cent American owner, Energen Global Inc, would change its name to avoid confusion with the US-listed energy company Energen.

Mr Davey, a former stockbroker, is also a part owner of Energen Global.

The NSW Government recently listed the project as ``state significant", but one of the project's most vocal supporters, Wentworth Shire Mayor Don McKinnon, said he was disappointed it took so long for the Government to get on board.

The towns of Mildura and Wentworth are keen to gain the economic benefits of the tower.

Mr McKinnon said a native title claim was a potential risk.

EnviroMission rose 2c to 31.5c.