The £500m-£800m East section is one of three big tunnelling jobs on the ‘super sewer’ project.

In December Thames Water started the bid race for the smaller West section, valued between £300m and £500m.

Bidding for the final Central section, worth up to £950m, is expected to kick-off in April.

The three tunnelling jobs along the 25km route are expected to be worth as much as £2.3bn.
The contract prizes have attracted a wide field of joint venture bidders, made up of contractors mostly from Europe.

Final preferred bidders are expected to be announced in May 2015.

Mike Gerrard, Thames Tideway Tunnel managing director, said: “The tender process is now well under way and we are confident that our process will ensure competitive bids that will result in the best value for our customers.

“We are building for 22nd Century London to create a cleaner, healthier River Thames.”

The 7.2 metre diameter super sewer is designed to stop more than 39m tonnes of untreated sewage being flushed into the Thames every year.

The development consent application is currently being considered by the Planning Inspectorate and, subject to consent, construction on the project will start in 2016 and will involve 24 construction sites across London.

Alongside the environmental improvements to the tidal River Thames, the tunnel will create more than 9,000 jobs. Already, around 500 people are working on the project.

The project is expected to be financed and delivered by an independent Infrastructure Provider, with its own licence from Ofwat.

Thames Water, Government and Ofwat are continuing to work together to finalise the financing arrangements for the project.

Procurement of the new IP is expected to begin later this year.