Detailed bids submitted for Mersey Gateway Project
The procurement competition for the Mersey Gateway Project has now entered the final stage where the detailed submissions from the three bidders are now being developed with Halton Borough Council.
The three bidders are competing for a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate a new toll bridge over the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes, together with associated work in the towns.
The project will be one of the largest infrastructure initiatives in the UK over the coming years. Earlier this year Mersey Gateway was identified as one of the UK government’s Top 40 priority projects in the National Infrastructure Plan and it has been recognised by KPMG as one of the ‘Top 100 infrastructure projects around the globe’.
Its centrepiece is a new six-lane toll bridge over the River Mersey in north west England between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes. The existing Silver Jubilee Bridge will also be tolled as part of the project, which is expected to create new jobs, help secure inward investment to the area and deliver important regeneration benefits.
The value of the construction phase of the project, including land, is estimated at £600m. The total project costs/revenues over the next 30 years will be around £2 billion.
The project team will now spend the coming months evaluating the three bids against a set of detailed criteria that focuses on both quality and value for money. When the Council requirements have been satisfied, bidders will be asked to submit their final tenders, leading to the selection of the preferred bidder.
The intention is to announce a preferred bidder in the spring of 2013 and sign a contract by the end of that year. It is anticipated that construction work will start in late 2013, and that the new bridge will take around three years to complete.
Cllr Rob Polhill, Leader of Halton Borough Council, said: “I am delighted with the progress that we have made on the procurement programme. 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.”
Steve Nicholson, Mersey Gateway Project Director, said: “We are very pleased with the quality of discussions that we have had with each of the bidders during the past nine months of competitive dialogue. The next few months will be spent analysing the details of their final proposals and I am confident that we will emerge with a committed partner that will help us deliver this exciting project.”
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 three consortia bidding for the Mersey Gateway Project are:
Balfour Beatty, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Egis Projects consortium, comprising equity members Balfour Beatty plc, Bouygues Travaux Publics and Egis Projects,
Merseylink consortium, comprising equity members Macquarie Capital Group Limited, Bilfinger Berger Project Investments Limited, Vialia Sociedad Gestora de Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.L. and FCC Construcción S.A., and
MGL consortium, comprising equity members BAM Nuttall, Hochtief PPP Solutions GmbH and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.A.
