FG mulls stiffer sanctions for excess load on highways

Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has declared the Federal Government’s readiness to effect stiffer penalties on conveyance of excessive loads on federal highways across the country.

Besides, the minister said the National Council of Works, the highest policy-making body on road infrastructure, would consider the reintroduction of weighbridge to reduce increasing damage on the nation’s highways.

At the 28th National Council on Works meeting in Kano State, yesterday, Fashola decried the level of damage inflicted on the highways by excessive haulage.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano had earlier pledged total support for the introduction of weighbridge on highways, but advocated legislative backing on the enforcement of policy.

The governor attributed lack of synergy among government agencies entrusted with the management of road and traffic to check conveyance of excessive loads on the highways, thereby reducing the life span of the facilities.

Fashola insisted that government would no longer accept reckless abuse on roads built for specific carrying capacity. He reminded the governor that the present administration would not succumb to threats by the operators of heavy vehicles, who resort to cheap blackmail and mischievous sentiment over the planned weighbridge.

He emphasised that from N18 billion works budget in 2016 when the government came on board, the Muhammadu Buhari administration successfully raised it to over N250 billion, building bridges and roads across the country.

The minister hinted that several instruments initiated by the government, including Sukuk bonds and Road Infrastructure and Refreshment Tax Credit Scheme to raise funds afforded the construction of over 2.5 million kilometres of roads across the country.

According to him, the reduction of gridlock on Lagos–Ibadan expressway and others near completion has transmuted to efficiency and productivity. He, however, urged the state government to resolve the prevailing issue of compensation to local communities where works have been suspended because of hindrance from property owners.

While declaring the meeting open, Ganduje applauded the Federal government’s investment in infrastructure and other critical projects across the country.

He specifically lauded the ongoing work on Kano­–Kaduna–Abuja road, Kano–Katsina road and Kano–Jigawa–Bauchi–Gombe–Maiduguri expressway, which he said opened significant windows of economic and industrial development.