Lorry drivers ferrying sand were taking advantage of the lack of a weighbridge to carry excess loads that are causing major damage to the 60-kilometre road
Plans are underway to erect a permanent 24-hour weighbridge on the Doldol-Nanyuki road to stop the damage being done by lorries overloaded with sand.
Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) Laikipia Regional manager James Kabiru said lorry drivers ferrying sand were taking advantage of the lack of a weighbridge to carry excess loads hence causing major damage to the 60-kilometre road.
“Sometimes we have had to erect temporary weighbridges but the trucks avoid transporting sand until they are withdrawn. You will mostly find them ferrying the sand at night when there’s no one on the road to monitor the load capacity,” Eng Kabiru told a County Development Implementation and Coordination Committee (CDICC) meeting in Nanyuki.
Eng Kabiru said they have had dialogue with lorry owners and drivers on the need to adhere to the required axle load weight but regretted that the conversations have not yielded much since the same drivers keep on flouting the rules.
“The road has now been identified as a candidate for a permanent weighbridge and we expect it to be in place soon,” he said.
The road engineer made the remarks after presenting a progress report to the committee on the status of ongoing road construction in the county, among which a 15-kilometre section of the road from Naibor to Il Polei is being upgraded to bitumen standards at a cost of 596.6 million.
A total of eight roads in the county with a combined length of 223 kilometres are under contract for upgrading to bitumen standards at a cost of Sh33.6 billion, he said.
Some of the roads being upgraded include the 50-kilometre Lamuria-Ngobit-Withare road which is 98 per cent complete and the 45-kilometre long Naromoru-Babiti/Nairutia-Karai/Kiawara-Muringa road that has been completed.
Laikipia County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri who chaired the CDICC meeting tasked KeRRA to furnish the committee with axle load regulations for lorries so that law enforcers can be tasked with enforcing the mandate on the particular road.
Source: MY Gov