The Cloud Arch, the wisp of inspiration to have framed Sydney’s George Street pedestrian and light rail boulevard, is for the chop: a victim of cost over-runs and the bogged-down process of building the tram line.

City of Sydney councillors will next week vote to cancel the proposed tender for the Junya Ishigami-designed steel swirl in the sky and to defer consideration of the project until after the light rail is finished, sometime in 2020 perhaps.

Not going ahead: The Cloud Arch is a victim of the troubled light rail project.

The price tag for building the arch, which at one stage was to have cost about $3.5 million, had blown out to $22 million. As it is, the City of Sydney has already spent $2.25 million on the Cloud Arch project over the past three years, including on redesigns, artist fees and project management and approval fees.

“The cost to deliver Cloud Arch has increased due to a number of factors and challenges outside the City of Sydney’s control,” a spokeswoman said on Thursday.