Leighton may pursue $300m compensation claim on Brisbane Airport Link project LEIGHTON Holdings may pursue compensation claims of up to $300 million on the loss-making Brisbane Airport Link project, chief financial officer Peter Gregg says. The road and tunnel project, which was originally forecast to make a profit before tax of $407m, has recently been downgraded to a $430m loss because of cost overruns and mounting problems. Mr Gregg said yesterday that Queensland's unprecedented wet weather conditions from last October to January this year had "severely hampered" progress of the $4.1 billion project. Leighton said the construction had been so complex that it had underestimated the amount of reinforced steel and concrete needed for the project. More than 133,000 tonnes of reinforced steel were needed when only 86,000 tonnes were tendered, while 945,000 cubic metres of concrete were needed when only 820,000 cubic metres were tendered. "Completion of the design has also taken much longer than expected and the actual design hours more than doubled the tendered allowance time," Mr Gregg said. Approvals from different authorities had significantly delayed the project, he said.