How rogue transporters dupe weighbridge scales

When a truck ferrying drilling equipment was detained for overloading in January, the story went viral after Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and nominated MP Sonia Birdi were videotaped storming into the Gilgil weighbridge to demand its release.

It has now emerged that if the truck had been ‘highway smart’, the legislators would have avoided the backlash that followed the release of the video.

According to Kenya National Highways Authority (KenHA) Acting Director General Linus Tonui, the country’s roads are populated by many dishonest transporters who have found ways to dupe the scales at weighbridges.

He said this has resulted into continued destruction of roads as trucks carry heavier loads than permitted by the law.

“Unfortunately, between the weighbridges, there are a lot of interesting things that happen where people just load again. We have arrested vehicles carrying double the legal weight limit,” Mr Tonui said in an exclusive interview with Business Beat.

He said the legal load limit in East Africa is 56 tonnes.

“Yet, you will find a vehicle carrying 90 tonnes. When you check it in Mariakani, for example, you will find it is within the legal limit, but by the time you arrest it when you use mobile weighbridges, it is carrying 90 tonnes,” he said.

Hi-tech fraud

Tonui said such transporters have gone hi-tech in an attempt to beat the system.

“Just like with speed governors, these people have invented a gadget that they put in their vehicles, which the police know about, and we’re telling them to crack down on it. With the device, when they are being weighed, they just press something on it and it shifts the load,” he said.

But the authority, Tonui said, has found ways to get around the use of such gadgets.

“Now we are using what is known as a flat fixed weighbridge system. It is a flat form, so the vehicle actually gets on top of a platform. This way, even if the weight is shifted to the rear wheels, it is still captured.”

The director general added that it is overloaded vehicles that are to blame for the deterioration of most roads in the country, not the use of sub-standard materials or shoddy work done by contractors.

“The roads built in Kenya are just as good as the others in other parts of the world. Every road that is built has a lifetime, and because it has a lifetime, what maintains the road is what is known as the lifecycle of the road,” he said.

“You plan, design, build and maintain the road. The roads built in Kenya are what we call flexible pavement. It is the same all over the world. You can only build it with a lifespan of 10 to 15 years. And for it to attain 15 years, you have to have proper maintenance throughout. You also have to make sure that the design loading that was used is complied with.”

Design loading

It is ensuring compliance with this design loading that is the biggest problem, Tonui said.

“We have a legal limit in Kenya, just like in any other country, and we cannot design for a higher limit than what the law says.”

The design loading is determined by the traffic and cargo expected on the road. To determine it, KenHA first surveys current traffic volumes, and then projects the growth over a road’s lifetime, for instance, 15 years.

“However, what is happening in Kenya is that the axle loading, which we are fighting to control, is being seriously violated by transporters,” said Tonui.

He also took issue with what he termed “laxity” in the judicial process. The courts, he said, free rogue transporters without any punishment.

“We experience a lot of frustrations where even after arresting these people, we still see a bit of compromising and laxity in our Judiciary system,” he said.

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