Kent PFI road out

by Brian Warner

The first of three big-value private finance road deals in Kent has come up for grabs.

Four groups will pick up the tender paperwork next week for the £73m-plus Stockbury (M2) to Sheerness design, build, finance and operate project, which includes the A249 Iwade bypass to Queenborough improvement.

The line-up sees Laing rekindling an old association with Hochtief. The pair has also taken Babtie on board as design partner and the trio will pitch as the Sheppey Link team.

Also hitting the road will be two veterans of the DBFO roads scene - Connect (Balfour Beatty/WS Atkins) and the Roads Management Group (Amec/Alfred McAlpine/Brown & Root and Spanish contractor Dragados).

The fourth runner is Carillion, which is going it alone.

An industry insider said: "In an effort to speed the whole process up a bit, the Highways Agency has gone for a 20-week tender period instead of the more usual six months."

The Agency will then choose two of the four to work up best and final offers, with the preferred bidder expected to emerge by autumn 2003.

Work on site will start in spring 2004, with completion due in 2006.

The job comprises a 17km stretch of the A249 and a fixed-bridge crossing of the River Swale.

The two other DBFO deals in Kent will be phase two of the A2 Bean-Cobham widening (worth £35m) and the A2/A282 Dartford improvement (worth £38m).

The first is due to start on site in either 2004 or 2005, with the second following a year later.