Carmichael coal proponent Adani Australia Mining says the list of people putting their names down to work for the operation has grown to 14,500.

It is using the figures to back its calls for the Queensland Government to finalise approvals for the Central Queensland coal mine.

“When you get 14,500 people wanting to work for you and most of these people come from Queensland, you would hope the Queensland Government would take notice,’’ Adani Australia Mining chief executive Lucas Dow said.

“A large number of those people are blue-collar workers, but the professionals and white collar workers like engineers, office managers and geologists are lining up as well.”

Mr Dow said Rockhampton and Townsville were still earmarked as the primary employment hubs for the project.

“Rockhampton and Townsville are hurting from unemployment issues. We have jobs ready to go now and we’ve committed to getting our workers from Rockhampton and Townsville,” he said.

“Our contractors will largely come from across regional Queensland as well, from places like the Isaac region, Mackay, the Whitsundays and Gladstone as well as Townsville and Rockhampton.

“Over the past nine months, we’ve already invested $70 million worth of work on the Carmichael Project alone, and Adani has invested more than $3.3 billion in Australia since 2010.

“We’re doing everything we can to get these people into jobs, but we need the Queensland Government to get onboard and help us deliver jobs that are ready for regional Queensland communities tomorrow if we’re given the green light to proceed.”