Overloaded trucks damage roads says MEC Shongwe

Overloaded vehicles damage roads in Mpumalanga and the result is increased government expenditure on road maintenance. This is according to Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe on the occasion of the opening of the Bethal Weighbridge on Friday, June 17.

MEC Shongwe is supported by a report from CSIR produced on behalf of the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport in Mpumalanga, which highlighted that about 60% of the damaged roads in the country is caused by overloaded vehicles.

He says that traffic officers must not have mercy towards overloaded vehicles as government cannot continue to spend billions of rands improving damaged roads only to allow some individuals to destroy it for their selfish gain.

The weighbridge in Bethal was officially unveiled to monitor and deal with overloaded vehicles travelling along the N17 Road to deliver goods such as coal to various destinations.

This is a project that was implemented within 44 months and benefitted 215 local community members with job opportunities. Among the 215 employees, 118 were from the youth category, both males and females. Others were skilled through experiential learning on different areas of construction work and 20 more were trained in kerb laying and concrete pavement slab construction works.

The weighbridge, which is equipped with a multi-deck scale, weighs over 600 heavy motor vehicles a day.

Shongwe says that the weighbridge in not there to punish vehicle owners for doing business in the province but to preserve the road infrastructure.

“Our intention is not to fine and make life difficult for business people in the transport sector. We love them because they have also created thousands of job opportunities for our people and we appreciate that. However, we have a responsibility to ensure that the trucks that they use to do their business on our roads do comply with the prescribed laws and legislations. We will not hesitate to act against those who fail to adhere to the laws, we will hit back ten times harder on them to make sure that they get the message loud and clear,” he says.

He adds that it is the responsibility of everyone to preserve public infrastructure therefore vehicle owners must put in place proper control measures to ensure that their vehicles are not overloaded.

“Keeping our roads in good condition will enable us as government to redirect resources from unnecessary maintenance caused by overloading to other service delivery priorities,” he adds.

Speaking during the unveiling, Mr Samson Nkosi from Eksom made a promise to the department that they will make sure that all their contractors who transport coal and the mines that produces the products do adhere to the load regulations.

He said that it is the responsibility of a mine to ensure that all trucks that leave the mine are correctly scaled and are not overloaded.

“In order to deal effectively with overloading, all fines issued to drivers must be shared by the contractor and the mine. This will ensure that responsibility is established and overloading is eliminated,” he concluded.