Elderly residents of a Żurrieq housing apartment block are concerned about their safety after being left with a gaping hole in the common area where a lift should have been installed.

They said workmen dug out the lift shaft a year ago but have not turned up on site in eight months – leaving other areas untiled, parts of the stairwell with unsecured railings and no electricity in the common areas.

The block of six, located on Triq Wied Babu in Żurrieq, forms part of a social housing complex built in the late 1970s and work started last year to install a lift in the common area.

The residents recalled that the building flooded during a storm in February.

“There are elderly people with disabilities living in this block. At night the common areas are pitch black as there is no electricity. The floor is uneven with missing tiles and the railings are not safe,” one elderly resident told Times of Malta.

“We are grateful that they are installing a lift, but things should not be done this way. It is dangerous. Some of us have young grandchildren who spend time here and we are worried for them as well. 

“It feels like they are waiting for a serious accident before taking action,” said the resident who preferred not to be named. 

The residents recalled that the building flooded during a storm in February, when Malta was hit by Storm Helios. Rainfall was widespread, causing damage across the island, including to many historic locations.

Ahead of the storm, workers had removed part of the block’s roof to make way for the lift shaft and covered it with just plastic sheets held down by bricks. 

A Social Accommodation Ministry spokesperson said the lift installation was composed of two phases carried out by different contractors.

During the storm, the rain gushed in, flooding the entire block and the bricks were pulled down into the stairwell causing damage to the stairs, one resident said.

Ministry says works to resume within days

A Social Accommodation Ministry spokesperson said the lift installation was composed of two phases carried out by different contractors. The first phase involved the construction of the lift shaft and any other necessary structural alterations which have been carried out earlier this year. The tender for the second phase – consisting of the actual lift installation – has been recently finalised, and works will commence over the coming days. 

“The Housing Authority is aware that in general, we have several sites where civic work is ready, but the second phase, that is the lift installation, is taking a long time. Considering this the Housing Authority is currently holding discussions to safeguard its legal position vis-à-vis certain contractors who have breached their contractual obligations and have given rise to exaggerated and unjustified delays in the installations of these lifts.

The Housing Authority is currently changing its procurement methods to deliver these projects expeditiously and avoid any repetition of these occurrences,” the spokesperson said.

The block of six, located on Triq Wied Babu in Żurrieq, forms part of a social housing complex built in the late 1970s and work started last year to install a lift in the common area.

The case was very similar to another one reported in Times of Malta in April. Four families living in a Valletta social housing block had been left with a gaping hole and a pile of rubble at the foot of their stairwell for a year, after a planned electric lift failed to be built.

The Ombudsman intervened and the hole was secured.