Load control policy to be in place to save highways
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Munima Sultana
The government has formulated the draft of Axle Load Control Policy to prevent multiple damages of roads and bridges by stopping plying of overloaded vehicles on the highways.
Officials said a committee on the load control policy submitted the draft to the communications ministry recently which will soon finalise the draft taking opinions from stakeholders.
They said the country has a number of load control machines on the national highways including on Bangabandhu Bridge point, but those could not be utilised properly due to lack of uniform measuring arrangement.
On the Bangabandhu Bridge, vehicles weighing 20 metric tonnes are allowed to cross the bridge while vehicles over 15 metric tonnes are not allowed at Aricha point, the officials added.
KM Iftekhar Haider, additional secretary to Roads and Railway Division, said the government has felt the need for the policy since long, not only to bring consistency in measurement but also to guide law enforcers to take the right action against overloaded vehicles users.
"In the existing laws, there is no guideline on how to punish the people who are involved in carrying excess goods on vehicles," he said.
The additional secretary said the damage of roads and bridges these vehicles cause is 10 times higher than the cost the overloaded vehicles try to save.
Apart from damaging infrastructure, the overloaded vehicles are also responsible for frequent accidents which take lives of thousands of people every year.
The ministry officials said the excess load control policy will guide the authorities on accurate weighing measurement needed for the safety of the roads and bridges as well as where and how many load control machines to be set up to control these vehicles.
They said in the past the government had tried to set up excess load control machines on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway but those efforts could not work due to failure to come to an agreement on uniform measurement.
"What will be the load control measures is also dependent on the number of traffic as it assesses durability of a thin or busy road and a bridge," said another official of the communications ministry adding that there is no option other than to have the policy to bring discipline to transportation and ensure smooth traffic on the highways.
The government has formulated the draft of Axle Load Control Policy to prevent multiple damages of roads and bridges by stopping plying of overloaded vehicles on the highways.
Officials said a committee on the load control policy submitted the draft to the communications ministry recently which will soon finalise the draft taking opinions from stakeholders.
They said the country has a number of load control machines on the national highways including on Bangabandhu Bridge point, but those could not be utilised properly due to lack of uniform measuring arrangement.
On the Bangabandhu Bridge, vehicles weighing 20 metric tonnes are allowed to cross the bridge while vehicles over 15 metric tonnes are not allowed at Aricha point, the officials added.
KM Iftekhar Haider, additional secretary to Roads and Railway Division, said the government has felt the need for the policy since long, not only to bring consistency in measurement but also to guide law enforcers to take the right action against overloaded vehicles users.
"In the existing laws, there is no guideline on how to punish the people who are involved in carrying excess goods on vehicles," he said.
The additional secretary said the damage of roads and bridges these vehicles cause is 10 times higher than the cost the overloaded vehicles try to save.
Apart from damaging infrastructure, the overloaded vehicles are also responsible for frequent accidents which take lives of thousands of people every year.
The ministry officials said the excess load control policy will guide the authorities on accurate weighing measurement needed for the safety of the roads and bridges as well as where and how many load control machines to be set up to control these vehicles.
They said in the past the government had tried to set up excess load control machines on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway but those efforts could not work due to failure to come to an agreement on uniform measurement.
"What will be the load control measures is also dependent on the number of traffic as it assesses durability of a thin or busy road and a bridge," said another official of the communications ministry adding that there is no option other than to have the policy to bring discipline to transportation and ensure smooth traffic on the highways.