A winner from the three consortia left in the race will be confirmed in June with construction work set to start by the end of the year.

Samsung C&T Corporation has also been approved as an addition to the Merseylink consortium which is one of three bidding teams.

The trio are competing for a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate a new toll bridge over the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes.

Its centrepiece is a new six-lane toll bridge over the River Mersey.

The value of the construction phase of the project, including land, is estimated at £600m. The total project costs/revenues over the next 30 years will be around £2 billion.

Cllr Rob Polhill, Leader of Halton Borough Council, said: “We are now nearing the end of a very detailed and complex process to appoint a private sector partner to work with us for the next three decades on the Mersey Gateway Project. This means that the new bridge we really need here in Halton is one step closer, which is great news.”

Steve Nicholson, Project Director for the Mersey Gateway Project, said: “We are still on track to meet our overall timetable of signing a contract with the appointed bidder during 2013 and it is important that we continue to focus on both the need for quality on the project and the need to deliver value for money for the public purse.

“I am confident that we will get three high quality submissions that will deliver on both counts.”

The three consortia bidding for the Mersey Gateway Project are:

Balfour Beatty, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Egis Projects consortium, comprising equity members Balfour Beatty plc, Bouygues Travaux Publics and Egis Projects,

Merseylink consortium, comprising equity members Macquarie Capital Group Limited, Bilfinger Berger Project Investments Limited, Vialia Sociedad Gestora de Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.L, Samsung and FCC Construcción S.A.,

MGL consortium, comprising equity members BAM Nuttall, Hochtief PPP Solutions GmbH and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.A