The project client has approved Samsung C&T Corporation joining the Merseylink consortium’s construction team with FCC and Kier.
Samsung is technically well qualified for the job. It built the Incheon Grand Bridge, the world’s fifth longest cable-stayed bridge, as well as the Burj Khalifa, Petronas Towers and Taipei 101 skyscrapers.
Merseylink is one of the three shortlisted bidders that have now been asked to submit final tenders to Halton Borough Council by 10 April.
A preferred bidder will be selected in June, the council says. This means the procurement process will be delivered to the timetable published at its outset and the project team remains on track to sign a contract and begin construction work by the end of the year.
Halton Borough Council has formally reassessed the revised Merseylink consortium and has approved the change. The Merseylink consortium equity partners remain unchanged (Macquarie, Bilfinger Berger, FCC and Vialia Sociedad Gestora de Concesiones de Infraestructuras).
As previously reported the other two consortia bidding are:
- Balfour Beatty, Bouygues, Egis Projects consortium
- MGL consortium (BAM Nuttall, Hochtief PPP and Iridium).
The three bidders are competing for a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate a new six-lane cable-stayed bridge over the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes, together with associated work in the towns.
Halton Borough Council leader Rob Polhill said: “We are now nearing the end of a very detailed and complex process to appoint a private sector partner to work with us for the next three decades on the Mersey Gateway Project. This means that the new bridge we really need here in Halton is one step closer, which is great news.”
Project director Steve Nicholson said: “We are still on track to meet our overall timetable of signing a contract with the appointed bidder during 2013 and it is important that we continue to focus on both the need for quality on the project and the need to deliver value for money for the public purse. I am confident that we will get three high quality submissions that will deliver on both counts.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
