The contractor responsible for the Mrieħel pedestrian bridge is to instal lifts 'as soon as possible' Transport Minister Ian Borg said in parliament on Wednesday.

Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina asked what had become of the lifts, which were due to have been installed in February, according to an earlier reply to a parliamentary question.

Dr Borg said the lifts had been manufactured abroad and had now reached Malta. The contractor would install them immediately.

He said Transport Malta was disappointed by the delay and legal steps had been taken to ensure that the contractor would abide by contract conditions.  

The bridge was a Labour electoral pledge in the wake of a fatal traffic accident in 2005, when two young women were mowed down as they crossed the road.

Times of Malta reported in December that the company that built the bridge has exclusive rights to use its surfaces for advertising as part of a 20-year concession agreement reached with the government.

The advertising space started to be used almost a year ago - in May - soon after the horizontal structure across the road was put in place, even though the lifts were still nowhere in sight. Work on the bridge had started in March last year.