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Transport for London (TfL) has shortlisted three companies for the Silvertown tunnel road PPP project.

Cintra Global Ltd, Hochtief PPP Solutions GmbH and a team formed by Skanska and Strabag have have been selected to submit a final proposal for the £750 million (US$1.082 billion) project.

TfL aims to award a long-term availability contract for the design, construct, finance and maintenance of a new river crossing between Silvertown and Greenwich Peninsula in east London. The river crossing, to be called Silvertown Tunnel, will comprise a twin bore road tunnel alongside Blackwall Tunnel with connections to the A1020 Silvertown Way/Lower Lea Crossing at the north and to the A102 Blackwall Tunnel approach at the south.

It is expected that the new infrastructure would, among others:

• cut down on queuing at the Blackwall Tunnel
• include user charging at the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels to manage demand and provide a source of revenue to help build the new tunnel
• provide an opportunity to create new cross-river bus links in east London
• improve road connections to and from Docklands and east London from South London

The project is currently envisaged to be at maximum total of 29.5 years (354 months) of which the initial period (up to a maximum) of four and a half years is assumed for the construction period and 25 years for the operational period. 

The Silvertown Tunnel project is part of the east London River Crossings Programme. The programme is overseen by a Sponsor Group, chaired by the Managing Director of TfL Planning and attended by senior managers from TfL Strategy and Planning, Surface Transport and Corporate Finance.

Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at TfL, said:

“It’s great to see such a strong shortlist of bidders to design, finance, build, and maintain the new Silvertown tunnel. The tunnel will be essential to help tackle congestion and reliability in east and south east London, as well as transform cross river bus services and support planned growth across the wider area.”