Partner Article

New Tunnel Tendering Goes Ahead Despite Pending Legal Chall

The three short-listed companies competing for the multi-million pound contract for the New Tyne Crossing construction will be formally invited to tender next month, it has been announced. The three bidders battling it out are Bouygues, comprising Bouygues Travaux Publics SA, HBOS and HSBC; Connect North East, comprising Balfour Beatty Capital Projects Ltd and Volker Stein Construction Europe bv; and T4, comprisingEdmund Nuttall Ltd, Mowlem plc and Vinci SA.

Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority (TWPTA) has made the decision to go ahead with the tendering process despite a legal challenge to the Transport Secretary’s go-ahead still pending. The New Tyne Crossing will be an immersed tube tunnel running under the River Tyne between East Howdon (North Tyneside) and Jarrow (South Tyneside). It will complete the dualling of the A19 which runs from south of Cramlington, Northumberland, to North Yorkshire. A Legal Challenge was made in August 30 2005 by Brian Atkinson, a resident of South Tyneside.

New Tyne Crossing Project Director Paul Fenwick said: “After careful consideration we have taken the view that even if the High Court upholds the challenge, it will delay rather than stop the scheme. “We have taken into account the comments of the Inspector in his report to the Secretary of State following the Public Inquiry that ‘to avoid the potential for employment and economic stagnation, I consider that the only realistic option is for the New Tyne Crossing to proceed.’ “The Secretary of State was happy to confirm the Order for the New Tyne Crossing to go-ahead and we are committed, as an Authority, to doing the best for economic prospects for the people of Tyne and Wear. “On that basis there is no reason to delay the issuing of the formal Invitation to Tender.”

It is expected the procurement process will take up to 18 months before a Concessionaire is appointed. The new tunnel will then take around 42 months to construct. It will open to traffic in late 2010 or early 2011.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .