Having failed to approve any CBD cycle paths in its two years in power, the NSW government is now delaying the construction of the final two blocks of a bike path down Kent Street.

The delay will cost City of Sydney ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars, and means the city's network of bike paths will remain half-built and unconnected for some time to come.

The proposal to extend a separated cycleway on Kent Street from Druitt Street to Liverpool Street, giving cyclists a path to move between the city's north and Chinatown and Darling Harbour, has been before the government for its entire term in office.

But at a joint meeting with the council on Tuesday afternoon, state bureaucrats will say they cannot approve the works because they have not finished a separate ''access strategy'' for pedestrians, cyclists, buses and motorists to move through the city.

The officials, including Transport for NSW director-general Les Wielinga and Roads and Maritime Services chief executive Peter Duncan, said in November they would release the plan by March.