LAHORE: Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman on Monday directed the transport department to make the axle load management system more effective in the province.

He gave this directive while presiding over a high-level meeting at the Civil Secretariat. The meeting decided that the toll tax on all roads would be collected online to ensure transparency.

The Chief Secretary said that axle load management is being successfully implemented on 1700 kilometers of highways in the province and permanent weigh stations have been established at nine places in the province for checking freight vehicles. He said as per law, an action is being taken against vehicles for overloading.

The Chief Secretary said that roads built at a cost of billions of rupees were damaged due to non-implementation of axle load laws, adding that accidents and damage to roads can be avoided through axle load management. He lauded Secretary Transport Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi and Chairman PITB Faisal Yusuf for their efforts in the successful implementation of axle load management system.

The Chief Secretary said that instead of constructing new roads, priority was given to the repair and reconstruction of 133 inter-district roads and work on 104 of these roads would be completed soon.

The Transport Secretary gave a detailed briefing at the meeting. He said signboards regarding the weight limit for freight vehicles have been installed at the entrances of all the districts. He said with the assistance of National Highways and Motorway Police, Punjab Highways Police, axle load rules have been implemented on 17 important corridors.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024