Shortlist of three to build UK's Mersey toll bridge

The shortlist of three bidders for the €707 million (£600 million) plus Mersey Gateway Project in North West England as been revealed.

The first bidder is the Balfour Beatty, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Egis Projects consortium. The second bidder is Merseylink consortium, comprising equity members Macquarie Capital Group, Bilfinger and Berger Project Investments, Vialia Sociedad Gestora de Concesiones de Infraestructuras and FCC Construcción. Completing the bidding trio is MGL consortium, comprising equity members Galliford Try Investments, Hochtief PPP Solutions, and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras.

The three will now 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 shortlisted consortia were selected by Halton Borough Council from 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.