While Perth's new $1.6 billion stadium will make its debut before a sell-out 55,000 one-day cricket crowd this Sunday, the footbridge that will play a crucial role in linking it to the city is still more than three months away.

The bridge across the Swan River will enable about 14,000 people per event to get to the venue.

The delays to the bridge will be a major hassle in the next few months, forcing all spectators to drive or get trains to the venue.

The AFL has only scheduled weekend matches there this year – excluding two matches later in the season – to avoid peak hour traffic chaos in Perth on a weeknight.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti arrived at a media conference on the banks of the Swan River on Wednesday in a truck carrying the first of 72 locally built steel components for the Matagarup Bridge.

She triumphantly declared it a major milestone in the construction of the $83 million bridge that is due to open in May, although that is no guarantee.

The bridge should have been completed in 2016 but the process has been embarrassing, with a Malaysian subcontractor failing to produce bridge components on time.

That occurred under the previous Liberal-National government and led to the contract being terminated and local fabricators Civmec being employed after the Labor government was elected.

Ms Saffioti said there had not been a good “line of sight” of the project previously and it was not being managed properly but she was confident it was being executed properly now.

By Greg Roberts