Ministry of Roads denies operating arbitrary axle load system
The Ministry of Roads and Highways has denied operating an arbitrary axle load weighing system that has the tendency to stifle trade within and outside the country.
Advertisement
At a stakeholders dialogue on the implementation of the new axle load regime in Accra, the sector minster, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, said the current system was agreed upon by ECOWAS member countries.
"I have always heard people say Ghana’s axle load system is arbitrary. That can't be true because the current weight limit is what applies in other ECOWAS countries and that is what is being enforced throughout the sub-region," he said.
The current law on the axle load system reduced the weight from 68 metric tonnes, as pertained in the old law, to 60 metric trucks per axel.
Some haulage transporters had protested the introduction of that load limit, explaining that the current load limit could force the collapse of their businesses.
The dialogue, which was organised by the Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA) and the Borderless Alliance, a private-sector initiative, aimed at ensuring hassle-free trade within the sub-region and the world at large. It, therefore, served as a common platform for shippers, truck drivers, haulage transporters, traders and regulatory institutions such as the Ghana Highways Authority, among others to deliberate on the implementation of the new regime.
It was also expected to find solutions to some of the challenges that occasioned the introduction of the new system earlier this year.
Speaking on the need to abide by the current limit, Alhaji Sulemana said the cost of rehabilitating damaged roads caused by overloading the axle far outweighed the prospects it brought to both the haulers and the state.
Other Trending Stories
"As I speak now, we have a huge backlog of road repairs that we are unable to carry out simply because the resources are not there. So if you say we should allow that extra load simply because you want to carry more goods, then you will be adding to that backlog and the cost is so high to bear," he said.
The Deputy Minister of Transport, Mrs Joyce Bawah Mogtari, advised truck drivers to abide by the new load limit, explaining that overloading often leads to a quicker than necessary deterioration of the road infrastructure, as well as the frequent break down of the trucks.