The government awarded approval to Indian mining giant Adani to build the 300-kilometre rail line linking the Carmichael Galilee Basin mine to the Abbot Point terminal in August.

The mine will be the biggest in Queensland, Australia’s largest coal exporting state.

The government signed a deal with Adani to help fund the railway yesterday morning.

The financial details of the deal haven’t been released, but the cost is believed to be substantial.

‘‘The state government is prepared to take a short-term, financial stake in the rail, port or other infrastructure needed to open up this region to create the jobs Queenslanders need,’’ Premier Campbell Newman said in a statement.

Adani Australia chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj said the deal would give confidence to investors.

Earlier, Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk queried why Adani seemed to be getting special treatment, but the government said it was open to signing similar deals with other Galilee Basin miners.

Adani reportedly signed a deal with the Bank of India to create a $1 billion credit facility to develop the Carmichael project.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society condemned plans by Mr Newman to pay for unneeded assets that will damage the Great Barrier Reef.

 The Newman government is expected to announce today that they will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to assist in the construction of the rail line for the controversial port expansion at Abbot Point.

Felicity Wishart, AMCS Great Barrier Reef campaign director said it would be an extraordinary waste of taxpayer funding for a project that was high risk financially and an environmental disaster.

“We have seen some of the world’s biggest banks reject funding for the Abbot Point port expansion plans, and leading financial analysts from around the world have indicated it is simply not economic,’’ she said.

 “Yet the Queensland government is forging ahead, determined to open up the Galilee Basin coal mine despite the coal boom being over, the coal mines in the Bowen Basin closing down and the risk to the Reef.

 “Queenslanders need to be told where this money is going to come from? Is it from cuts made to schools, hospitals and the services people rely on, or from the anticipated sale of existing assets? 

 “Clearly the government is proposing to subsidise this rail line because commercial banks are not prepared to.

“The rail and port expansion plans will see three-million tonnes dredged from the seafloor and dumped in the Caley Valley wetlands, natural filter and fish nursery for the Great Barrier Reef.

 “It will see hundreds more ships crossing the Great Barrier Reef.’’