The shortlist of three bidders for the Mersey Gateway Project has been announced.

The three shortlisted bidders are:

•Balfour Beatty, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Egis Projects

•Merseylink consortium

•MGL consortium

The three were selected by Halton Borough Council from the expressions of interest received from six groups in December 2011. The selection has been based on the published pre-qualification criteria where the shortlisted bidders were awarded the highest scores.

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The successful candidates will now be invited to compete for a contract to design, build, finance and operate a new toll bridge over the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes and associated work in the towns. The value of the construction phase, including land, is estimated at £600m.

Steve Nicholson, Mersey Gateway Project Director, said: “We were delighted with the quality and the quantity of the submissions we received. Each of the six groups we evaluated met our requirements but we set out to limit the procurement process to three bidding groups and we have maintained this approach so that we can reduce bid costs whilst running an effective competition."

(CD/GK)