Leighton Holdings Ltd, a project development and contracting company in Australia, announced today that it has been awarded contracts worth $A1.5 billion in Australia and Indonesia.

Leighton said that its subsidiaries Leighton Asia and Thiess Services won the contract in Indonesia and Australia respectively. The shares of Leighton Holdings rose by more than 4% on the news today.

Leighton said today in a statement that Leighton Asia has secured $A1.1 billion mining expansion contract for six years in Indonesia. According to the contract, Leighton Contractors Indonesia, a division of Leighton Asia, will expand mining services at MSJ coal mine in Indonesia for PT Mahakam Sumber Jaya. Leighton said that it is very optimistic for its operations in Indonesia.

"Our operation in Indonesia has been an outstanding performer for the past few years and we expect to continue to perform strongly in both mining and infrastructure," said Mr. Tyrwhitt, managing director of Leighton Asia.

Leighton also announced today that its subsidiary Thiess Services had won $A405 million worth of remediation work from BHP Billiton at the Hunter River Remediation Project in NSW. Leighton said that the work involves cleaning up areas of the Hunter River bed in the Hunter Valley. The company said that the work is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

The shares of Leighton closed at $A33.01 today after making a high of $A33.69 on the news.