COREN advocates reintroduction of weighbridges on highways to check overloading

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has urged the Federal Government to reintroduce weigh bridges on highways to reduce overloading of trucks in the country.

Mr Kashim Ali, the President of COREN, who made the call on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said that overloading was responsible for the destruction of most of our roads.

Ali said that the roads in the country were designed according to the axle load expected but expressed dismay over a default in the recommended loads on Nigerian roads.

“Way back even in the 60s when the roads were not well developed, we had weighbridges, what happen to them?

“I am aware in the Ministry of Works that they commenced the procurement process for weighbridges many years ago and they have not completed the process, why?

“Those are the questions they need to answer, why have they not shown sufficient interest in putting weigh bridges on important roads?” he asked.

Ali said the roads in the country were built according to the expected highest axle load to be on it.

“Overloading is a big problem when you design a road; you design it based on the expected loading.

“In a road structure, you have expectations, what is the highest axle loading that you expect on that highway? So, you design to accommodate the highest.

“So, when the highest changes and the road have not been redesigned, the problem will come,” he added.

According to him, I was at a conference in Ghana many years ago and we were told about some vehicles that were brought into Ghana.

He said the 40 tonnes axle load vehicles that were denied a license in Ghana found their ways into Nigeria and were licensed.

Ali said most of the vehicles that carry goods through Nigerian roads from the ports to Chad or Niger were usually weighed at the border.

“If there is excess load, they must dislodge, they cannot enter Niger or Chad with excess load but anything goes here.

“We should commend the quality of work on our roads, for them not to have collapsed in a manner that we will really reflect on the kind of abuses that come on them,” he said.