The Isle of Wight highways maintenance project has survived the Government's Spending Commitments Review - joining the 193 out of 217 projects from the start of this year that have been given the green light to progress

As the largest highways maintenance project in the pipeline, there had been fears that it would fall prey to the newly-elected government's review.

This news will come as a relief to the three bidders that are in dialogue with the Isle of Wight Council for its £1.2 billion highways maintenance PFI.

In spite of the hovering axe, the council launched the dialogue process which will last until September after which teams will put forward formal ISOS submissions.

The next stage following on from this is the invitation to submit detailed solutions (ISDS) phase moving into 2011.

The three consortia are led by:

• Amey Ventures
• Colas
• Vinci Concessions

The scheme [Projects Database] includes the management, refurbishment and maintenance of:

• Road surfaces - 822km
• Footways, cycleways, bridges and other structures
• Streetlighting - 11,700 columns
• Traffic signals, signs, street nameplates and road markings
• Street cleaning and winter maintenance

In March the DfT approved £364.6 million in PFI credits towards the deal.

PwC is financial adviser for the procuring authority, DLA Piper is acting as legal adviser, while WSP is technical adviser.