AXLE LOAD CONTROL UNIT MOVES INTO ACTION (PAGE 25)

THE Tema Motorway Axle Control Unit has carried out a load-shedding exercise to reduce cargo on seven impounded transit trucks at the Tema Motorway Axle Control Unit to meet the Ghana Highway Authority's permissible weight.
This follows a court order after the drivers had been made to pay various fines totalling GH¢ 21,000 for carrying load above the stipulated weight .
The affected drivers , Borra Abdaramane , Abdul Fatao, Traore Lassina, Hamidu Dauda, Kassim Sanuko, Simbibe Zaoubahunu and Drissa Ballo were conveying cargo to Burkina Faso, Mali and the northern part of the country.
Some members of the Joint Association of Transport Unions who were at the Unit to give support to their members were against the load-shedding exercise.
They explained that the unit lacked storage facilities where the excess load could be kept safely from the vagaries of the weather.
This led to long arguments between personnel of the unit and the drivers, who argued that the cargo did not belong to one person, so the load-shedding could affect the identity and classification of the various goods.
The drivers appealed to the Chief Executive Officer of the Axle Load Unit, Mr Albert Owusu-Ansah, to grant them pardon to go with their load.
They also claimed that the affected drivers would incur extra cost if the goods were offloaded because they would have to look for transport to convey the off-loaded goods to their destinations.
Mr Owusu-Ansah explained to the drivers and their executive that he had no power to set them free, adding that “my work ends at ensuring that the over-weight truck did not use the road to shorten its life span”.
He was convinced that if the trucks were weighed at the loading points, the drivers would be saved the problems they were facing .
Mr Owusu-Ansah noted that the process of load-shedding was time consuming because no one could break the seals on the cargo except the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the sole body which has the authority to break the seal.
He appealed to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and production industries to ensure that all trucks leaving the port and their premises carried the right weight of load to avoid interceptions.
Meanwhile, the unit has impounded nine other transit trucks which are currently being processed to be put before court to enable the unit to shed off the excess load.