Trucks Carrying Excess Load To Pay N1m To N10m Fine — Fashola

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said this
on Thursday while inspecting the refurbished Digital Truck Weigh
Bridge at Old Toll Gate along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Mr Fashola said the measure was not just about tolling but
geared towards the Highway Development Initiatives of the Federal
Government to curb abuse of highways causing quick
degeneration.

He said overloaded trucks usually constituted danger to
themselves, the infrastructure and other road users and appealed to
the media to join in sensitisation to end the ugly trend.

“No matter how beautiful, how well designed the highways are,
they are built with a specification, once you don’t comply with
those specifications you are abusing or misusing the assets.

“Now, those specifications are global. So, they are not Nigerian
made, every country in the world has subscribed to them. And so, if
we see things in other parts that we like how they look, it is
because they are properly used.

“Nigeria is a signatory to the ECOWAS Axle Load Regulation
signed by all ECOWAS countries, and one of the first things
President Buhari did in the first term of his administration was to
ratify that convention locally.

“So, those are the regulations that you see, that we have
published on that wall just to further educate people, they have
been gazetted showing the approved axles per truck and type of
truck and what each truck can carry,” he said.

He said as minister, his office empowered him to make
regulations, hence the new calibrated bills for contravention of
axle loads.

Fashola said the fines against erring articulated vehicles were
from N1millio to over N10 million to serve as deterrent.

“The reason we have also done this is we want to make it cheaper
to comply and very expensive to break the law,” he said.

He said the federal government was fixing weighbridges to
regulate axle load to increase the lifespan of the highways while
at the same time creating thousands of jobs.

The minister said the weighbridges would generate 50,000 direct
jobs and 200,000 indirect employment opportunities to boost the
economic livelihood of Nigerians.

Mr Fashola said the weighbridge was among others built with
international standard to preserve the lifespan of the roads and
that it would be put to use upon completion of the ongoing
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project.

The Minister explained that the planned return of tolling and
the Weighbridge, were part of a Highway Development Initiative that
had the enforcement side, and economic value through direct and
indirect employment opportunities.

Fashola said the facility had the capacity to divert trucks to
inspection points as well as ware house to cater for excess charge
and trans-loading in collaboration with transport unions.

Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr
Olukayode Popoola, explained that the weigh bridge constructed in
1974 would prevent trucks with excessive load causing increased
spending on road repairs. NAN

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said this
on Thursday while inspecting the refurbished Digital Truck Weigh
Bridge at Old Toll Gate along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Mr Fashola said the measure was not just about tolling but
geared towards the Highway Development Initiatives of the Federal
Government to curb abuse of highways causing quick
degeneration.

He said overloaded trucks usually constituted danger to
themselves, the infrastructure and other road users and appealed to
the media to join in sensitisation to end the ugly trend.

“No matter how beautiful, how well designed the highways are,
they are built with a specification, once you don’t comply with
those specifications you are abusing or misusing the assets.

“Now, those specifications are global. So, they are not Nigerian
made, every country in the world has subscribed to them. And so, if
we see things in other parts that we like how they look, it is
because they are properly used.

“Nigeria is a signatory to the ECOWAS Axle Load Regulation
signed by all ECOWAS countries, and one of the first things
President Buhari did in the first term of his administration was to
ratify that convention locally.

“So, those are the regulations that you see, that we have
published on that wall just to further educate people, they have
been gazetted showing the approved axles per truck and type of
truck and what each truck can carry,” he said.

He said as minister, his office empowered him to make
regulations, hence the new calibrated bills for contravention of
axle loads.

Fashola said the fines against erring articulated vehicles were
from N1millio to over N10 million to serve as deterrent.

“The reason we have also done this is we want to make it cheaper
to comply and very expensive to break the law,” he said.

He said the federal government was fixing weighbridges to
regulate axle load to increase the lifespan of the highways while
at the same time creating thousands of jobs.

The minister said the weighbridges would generate 50,000 direct
jobs and 200,000 indirect employment opportunities to boost the
economic livelihood of Nigerians.

Mr Fashola said the weighbridge was among others built with
international standard to preserve the lifespan of the roads and
that it would be put to use upon completion of the ongoing
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project.

The Minister explained that the planned return of tolling and
the Weighbridge, were part of a Highway Development Initiative that
had the enforcement side, and economic value through direct and
indirect employment opportunities.

Fashola said the facility had the capacity to divert trucks to
inspection points as well as ware house to cater for excess charge
and trans-loading in collaboration with transport unions.

Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr
Olukayode Popoola, explained that the weigh bridge constructed in
1974 would prevent trucks with excessive load causing increased
spending on road repairs. NAN