Ministry to introduce weighbridges to check overloading of trucks

The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing is considering introducing weighbridges as part of measures to check overloading by trailers.

The Federal Controller of Works, Kaduna State, Engineer Finbarr Zirra, said the federal government is considering introducing weighbridges because of the dangers posed on the highways.

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He spoke at a stakeholders meeting on the reconstruction of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road section II (Kaduna-Zaria) construction of Trailer Parks and other Ancillary Works, organized by the ministry in Kaduna.

“We are constantly talking about overloading because if you construct a road and you put excess load on it, it is like allowing small children to carry a load knowing that even if that child can temporarily carry the load, it will impact on him negatively, it is the same with the road.

“If the load is too heavy, over time, it will begin to wear out and the road will start failing, once you have a small crack, the road will begin to deteriorate especially in the rainy season,” he said.

He said the weighbridges would be strategically located adding, “The essence of weighbridge is to discourage drivers from overloading in order to ensure that our roads last as long as they should.

“The weighbridge is the last measure to tackle overloading, the government will provide warehouses to store the seized goods when enforcement commences, so when a driver is caught with overload, and the driver will pay for demurrage and move with what is allowable. If we do this, most of our roads will last long.”

He noted that from Abuja to Kano, there would be a total of five trailer parks saying, “there will be two from Abuja to Kaduna, one between Kaduna and Zaria and two others between Zaria and Kano making a total of five and if you include the one the Kaduna State government is managing, we will have six all together.”