Road infrastructure and overloading

The Inspector General of National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) directed the authorities to conduct surprise checking and monitoring to ensure the implementation of the axle load control regime.

The IG emphasized the importance of preventing overloaded vehicles from using motorways and highways, adding that overloaded vehicles contribute to road accidents and cause damage to the road infrastructure. It was informed in the meeting that extra goods are being offloaded from overloaded vehicles under the supervision of the National Highways and Motorway Police at all the Weigh Stations established on National Highways and thousands of overloaded vehicles are also being returned with heavy fines.

Historically, overloading on highways leads to various negative effects, including increased wear and tear on roads, reduced road safety due to impaired vehicle handling, higher fuel consumption, and more significant environmental impacts that cause significant monetary and economic losses to the country. Additionally, overloading puts stress on infrastructure and contributes to traffic congestion and accidents. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s magnificent motorways, highways and intercities roads have been the biggest victims of the curse of overloading goods on trucks, tractor-trailers, and long containers as well.

That destroyed our roadways and turned our magnificent highways/motorways into dunes of mud and rubles. The evil of corruption and lust has badly spoiled our society and affected each aspect of national life. The transportation charges of the goods depend on the weight and quantity of the load so greedy truck drivers load unauthorized quantities of goods in lust for a large amount of money and thus destroy the country’s road infrastructure for their trivial benefit. Whereas, the corrupt motorway staff assist them in unloading and loading before and after having checked their weight near weight bridges on the motorways and highways.

Meanwhile, tractor-trailers and small trucks are also used for transporting oversize goods/loads through the checking points. Hence, there is a dire need for strict implementation of the law, while the major goods suppliers, markets, cement manufacturing plants, and goods transport companies should be instructed not to allow overloading of goods to transporters/ truck drivers to avoid damage to the roads. Meanwhile, the vehicle drivers themselves adhere to weight limits for the overall well-being of the transportation system and the larger interest of the country.