Mariakani weigh bridges automated to check corruption

It will reduce human contacts which have been blamed for incidence of graft.

“The automation will provide all the transporters with a level playing field and will effectively address corruption,” Mr Bundotich said.

But to ensure that every truck passes through the weigh bridges, KTA has proposed to the Ministry of Transport to have a representative permanently positioned at the bridges.

“We have information that there are a number of trucks currently waiting along the road to see what is happening at the weighing bridges before they can pass their overloaded trucks,” Bundotich said, adding that this was an indication that the overload was deliberate.

The other challenge the transporters are facing are the aging weighing bridges and poor engineering design, which can be counterproductive, according to Mr Bundotich.

“The weighing bridges need to be upgraded to ensure that the readings they give are credible,” he said.

Plans are under way to automate the Athi River weighing bridge.

The two bridges will be linked to a supervisory unit at the Ministry of Transport, he said.

“The software has a database and at a click of a button one can easily see what is happening at the weighing bridges— the number of trucks that have been overloaded and how many were charged,” Bundotich said.

In spite of a presidential directive reducing the number of axles and a limit on truck loads on Kenyan roads, those charged with implementing these rules have been flouting them.

The new measures will ensure that all parties can read the weights from a computer screen mounted outside, unlike before when the truck drivers had to rely on the computer screen accessible to weighing clerks who sometimes accused truck drivers of overloading to obtain a bribe.

As one of the measures to check graft, the government early this year started the process of privatising the 15 weighing bridges from Mombasa to Malaba.

Two of them, Mariakani and Athi River, have already been awarded to Otieno Odongo and Partners (OOP) for a one year renewable contract.

According to Mr Bundotich, KTA is in talks with the Ministry of Transport to have all the remaining bridges privatised.

The managers at Mariakani weighing bridge have also been complaining that some greedy transporters have been colluding with shippers to overload the trucks to cut the cost of transport.

Gross weight

In October, last year, the President issued a decree which reduced the number of axles allowed on Kenyan roads from four to three which put a limit to the gross weight of a truck to 48 tonnes.

Prior to this, trucks could carry up to a gross weight of 70 tonnes, a load that caused major damage to the roads.

To cash in on the importers who are now sensitive to the cost of transport along the Northern Corridor, which is said to be one of the highest in the region, some errant transporters are overloading so that they can charge lower rates to attract desperate shippers, Bundotich said in a recent interview.

From January to October this year, according to Mr Ogara Okech, the manager at Mariakani weighing bridge, 1,439 trucks have been prosecuted and fined a total of Sh56.5 million.

“The transporters were prosecuted for carrying load in excess of two to 15 tonnes,” Okech said.

Overloading is said to affect transporters with fewer trucks.

“The overloading is killing transporters with fewer trucks since the goods they are supposed to carry goes as excess cargo by the big transporters,” Mr Bundotich said.