Maqbouly stresses the importance of activating pivot weight stations to maintain the road network

 

The Deputy Prime Minister for Services and Development, Dr. Hussein Maqbouly stressed the importance of activating the pivot weight stations on the main roads, in order to preserve the network of roads and bridges that cost the country billions of riyals annually.

During the inauguration of the joint work mechanism between the Roads Maintenance Fund and the General Authority for Regulating Land Transport Affairs to maintain the road network today in Sana’a, Dr.Magbouly  explained that road maintenance has cost the state billions of riyals annually due to its wear and tear due to the neglect of the axial weight stations, aggression strikes and other natural factors.

He pointed out that the axial weight law issued a long time ago has not been applied to reality, like other regulations and tasks entrusted to the Road Maintenance Fund that has been activated since 2018 and the role of the Fund in maintaining the road network that reaches 17 thousand kilometers.

He stressed the need for coordination between the various government agencies related to the implementation of the axial weight law, chiefly the Road Maintenance Fund, the Land Transport Regulatory Authority, the local authority bodies, the ministries of interior, oil, minerals, industry and commerce, and the General Authority for Geological Survey, to overcome the dilemma of road wear and tear due to overloads, and other aspects. Related to the arrest of violators of the law.

In the event attended by the Minister of Local Administration Ali bin Ali Al-Qaisi, Mayor of the Capital Hammoud Abbad, the Governor of Sana’a Abdul Basit Al-Hadi and the Deputy Minister of Electricity Abdul-Ghani Al-Madani, the head of the Roads Maintenance Fund, Engineer Nabil Al-Haifi, reviewed the reasons that prompted the state to implement axial weight laws and the experiences of a number of countries in this field .

Al-Haifi stated that the continued failure to implement the law and limit the overloads, threatens catastrophic risks to the road network, and may lead to the collapse of the network within four years … indicating that about 700 million riyals were spent to maintain the Sana’a-Al-Hodeidah road only due to the overloads, while it is estimated. Annual losses of road maintenance projects in billions of riyals.

Whereas, Chairman of the Land Transport Regulatory Authority, Walid Al-Wadaei, explained that the inauguration of work between the authority and the Road Maintenance Fund comes within the matrix of the national vision for building the modern Yemeni state and in implementation of the directives of the President of the Supreme Political Council aimed at preserving what remains of the road network.

“The road is the first component of the main transportation components, represented by the road, the means of transport and the driver, and without the road, the transportation process will not take place and development will not be achieved,” he said.

Al-Wadaei stressed the necessity to oblige the means of transport to apply the terms and standards regulating cargo, so that the roads do not continue to be destroyed and the state treasury drained, as a result of excessive loads and in violation of the law.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Joint Committee to Reduce Loads on the Road Network, Engineer Abdullah Al-Qairi, presented the tasks that the committee will implement, including controlling truck loads from the main loading sources and activating the land navigation chambers of the Land Transport Affairs Regulatory Authority to determine the lanes of trucks on the roads, regulate their movement and control violators.

He pointed out that one of the tasks of the committee is to establish axial weighing stations on the main roads, according to the technical studies prepared by the Roads Maintenance Fund, which are specified in 22 fixed and mobile sites.

 

Engineer Al-Qairi explained that the mechanism will be implemented in the coming days in conjunction with a comprehensive awareness program through the media to enhance the awareness of citizens and workers in the transport sector about the damages of overloads on the road network and the safety of citizens and means of transportation.

The event was attended by members of the Board of Directors of the Roads Maintenance Fund, the leadership of the General Organization for Roads and Bridges, and a number of agents and representatives of the relevant authorities.