The bridge would link the waterfront complex with the rest of St Helier

The full cost of the project has been revealed ahead of the public meeting on Friday night to discuss the project.

The meeting will take place at 0700 GMT at St Helier Town Hall.

The waterfront bridge has aroused controversy since it was first suggested.

Islanders were asked to choose between several initial designs, before discussing whether or not they actually wanted a bridge at all.

The Waterfront Enterprise Board (WEB) has announced the cost so that a final decision can be made based on all the facts.

Phone poll

The winning design has been created by a consortium of three companies.

They are architects Michael Hopkins and Partners, expert bridge building engineers Flint and & Neill Partnership and the local Jersey firm Geo-Engineering Consulting Services.

The architects have made small modifications to their plan in response to ideas put forward by the public.

After the public meeting on Friday, an independent company will carry out a phone poll to see if islanders actually want the bridge.

If the answer is yes, work could begin early next year.

Informed decision

WEB stressed the money for the project would be raised by selling land on the waterfront, not from States departments' budgets.

"This is the kind of price tag we were expecting when we decided to hold a competition to come up with a world-class design for Jersey," said WEB director John Scally.

"This proposal was clearly the public's favourite, and now that they know how much it'll cost WEB to build, they can make a fully informed decision on whether they would like the project to go ahead.

"When the professional opinion poll begins next week, the public will have seen the winning design, and they'll know how much WEB will have to spend on the project. "