[PHNOM PENH POST]
Overloaded vehicles are contributing to a more rapid than anticipated
deterioration of Cambodia’s road network, experts said yesterday.
“The
cost of overloading causes problems to everyone involved, but it is
easy to control damage if we have good system in place. This is the only
instrument we have to stop it,” said Asian Development Bank Senior
Transport Specialist Shihiru Date on the sidelines of a conference on
the issue yesterday.
The ADB has funded an axle-load control
programme as part of a US$1 million technical assistance package to
support government rehabilitation of about 150 kilometres of the
Kingdom’s roads.
Under the programme, six weigh stations began
operation on March 15, with one more to begin later, in a bid to reduce
damage from excessive loads on transport trucks.
Cambodia’s
infrastructure has improved significantly in the past ten years, though
further improvements are still to come, said Shihiru Date.
“Now
that almost all the national roads are paved, the second step is to
focus on provincial and rural roads, of which only 25 percent and 1
percent are paved respectively,” Shihiru Date said.
He added that
the rural economy is becoming increasingly dependent on improved road
networks. However, rapid growth in traffic volumes, combined with a lack
of financing and maintenance, continues to cause damage.
Cambodia’s
road network of about 39,600 kilometres comprises 2,100 kilometres of
national roads, 9,500 km of provincial roads and 28,000 km of rural
roads, according to an ADB statement.
Although the
implementation of the weigh stations is welcomed by many as improving
the Kingdom’s logistics, other steps remain to be taken.
“We
support the installation of these stations, however, our concern is that
there is still unfair competition from [trucking] businesses that are
not registered,” said Cambodian Trucking Association Executive Director
Sok Chheang.
A regulation was proposed at the Government and
Private Sector Forum in April 2010, requiring businesses to register
with the Cambodian Trucking Association if they owned in excess of ten
trucks.
However, only registered companies pay certain taxes,
providing a disincentive to register with the association, he claimed,
adding unregistered companies in particular overloaded freight vehicles.
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