Final bids prepared for new Mersey bridge

HALTON Borough Council is now working on final submissions with three consortia bidding for the contract to build and operate a new £600m road bridge across the Mersey.

The bidders, listed below, are competing for a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate the new toll bridge over between Runcorn and Widnes.

The project will be one of the largest infrastructure initiatives in the UK over the coming years.

The council’s project team will now spend the coming months evaluating the three bids, focusing on quality and value for money. Bidders will then be asked to submit their final tenders with a decision expected by the spring. Construction should start later next year and take three years to complete.

Council leader Rob Polhill said: “This is complicated and intensive work that cannot be hurried, so it is important that we take the time to get this process exactly right and make the best decision for Halton.”

The three shortlisted consortia were selected earlier this year from an initial group of six bids received by the project team in December 2011.

The bidders are:

Balfour Beatty, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Egis Projects.

Merseylink consortium, comprising equity members Macquarie Capital Group, Bilfinger Berger Project Investments, Vialia Sociedad Gestora de Concesiones de Infraestructuras and FCC Construcción.

MGL consortium, comprising equity members BAM Nuttall, Hochtief PPP Solutions and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras.

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