A £2m project at a top environmental visitor attraction should be ready by Easter, bosses have said.

The project to build an indoor eco-centre and hydrophonicum, a giant greenhouse, at Nature's World, in Middlesbrough, has been identified by the Millennium Commission as running behind schedule.

Scores of millennium projects across the country are still unfinished more than two years after celebrations to mark the new century.

They were detailed in a letter from Millennium Commission chairman Tessa Jowell MP to Liberal Democrat MP Nick Harvey.

Nature's World received £1m from the commission to build the eco-centre and hydrophonicum, housing tropical gardens and powered by geo-thermal energy.

The project was due to open by October last year.

However, work was delayed when one of the building contractors involved had to pull out after hitting financial difficulties.

Nature's World manager Stuart Goldie said: "We did hope we would be open by the beginning of October last year.

"But a contractor pulled out and had to be replaced and some of the techniques involved in the construction of the project have been more complicated than we thought.

"However, we are now back on track and are looking to open just before Easter."

A total of 52 Millennium Commission-funded projects across the country are still to be finished because of legal and funding problems or building hitches.

A spokeswoman for the Millennium Commission said: "If a project encounters problems we do our best to help the people involved overcome them.

"We believe it is far more important to get things right rather than rushing projects to stick to a specific timescale."