Vehicles traversing interior roads to adhere to specified weight limits

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─ scales to be installed to monitor weight of vehicles

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, August 29, 2018

The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure are taking the necessary steps to ensure vehicles traversing the interior roads adhere to the specified weight limits.

According to Manager of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s Special Projects Unit, Arun Richard a number of scales have already been acquired by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and will be installed shortly.

“I would say within about three months they will be installed. We are still to define which sections of the carriageway we are going to put the scales on, but they are going to be strategic so that they can have a wide effect. For example, one placement can be used to determine vehicles that will use maybe several roads like Linden for example,” Richard told the Department of Public Information (DPI).

The move to install scales comes at a time when the GGMC has ramped up maintenance efforts and recently awarded contracts valued at almost $700Million for the upgrade and maintenance of interior roads from Linden to Kwakwani and Linden to Lethem.

In addition, Richard says stakeholders of the mining and logging communities have indicated their willingness to comply with the new arrangements which will rely on the law rather unofficial agreements.

“From a transportation engineering perspective, we would rather rely on the strength of the system as opposed to a gentleman’s agreement and this is why we have resorted to installing scales and advocating for the more responsible use of the road. So, I am thinking to have an enforced system in place that would be the ideal situation to aim for,” he added.

According to the Special Projects Manager, the interior roads are unpaved and are therefore susceptible to being damaged if improperly used. He said a major problem is the overloaded vehicles traversing the roads, particularly during the rainy season.

There is nothing worse that can happen to a road than it being used outside of its design specification…. the vehicle is overloaded and you have additional axle weight beyond the design of the road which leads to rotting and failures. Adherence to load limits is important,” Richard said.

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Image: Tejpaul Bridgemohan