Legal row halts contract signing on £1bn Silvertown Tunnel

摘要

The formal award of the £lbn contract to build the Silvertown Tunnel has been suspended following a legal challenge from a losing bidder. Transport for London (TfL) named consortium Riverlinx, which includes Ferrovial-owned roads specialist Cintra, Bam PPP and Australian bank Macquarie Capital, as its preferred bidder back in May. The tunnel will link the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Dock in east London and had been due to open in 2025. But now TfL has been forced to postpone its plans for the scheme after reserve bidder Silver Thames Connect (STC) - a joint venture that includes German construction company Hochtief, as well as Spanish engineers Dragados and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras - issued a legal challenge. While STC lodged its claim earlier this month, the papers detailing the reasons for the challenge are not yet publicly available.