THE final tenders for the three companies looking to build The Mersey Gateway bridge have been handed in.

The shortlisted bidders delivered their plans to the project’s offices overlooking the Mersey on Wednesday.

The project team and its expert advisors will now spend the next few weeks assessing the three bids against a set of detailed criteria that focuses on quality and value for money.

The 30-year deal will also the successful bid to design, build, and finance the new tool bridge to link Runcorn and Widnes.

An announcement about the identity of the preferred bidder is due in June. Work is expected to start in late 2013 or early 2014.

Clr Rob Polhill, leader of Halton Council, said: “The council has been convinced throughout the development of this project that we could put together a commercial package that would be attractive to potential partners and would deliver a fair deal for the public purse. The fact that we have three complete bids on the table shows we are now well on the way to delivering that.”

Steve Nicholson, project director for the Mersey Gateway Project, said: “The next few weeks will be spent looking very closely at every detail of the three separate proposals and we will be focusing on quality and value for money to ensure we get the best deal for Halton and the public purse.