…Voluntary compliance needed at this time – Edghill
The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) recently called on truck operators to stop overloading their trucks, which has been damaging the interior roadways.
The Association urged the government to enforce the established Road Users Agreement, which stipulates and monitors the weight restrictions for trucks/vehicles transporting fuel and other supplies at certain areas.
But during a recent interview with MTV News Update, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill cited difficulties in enforcing the regulations owing to the missing ‘motion scales.’
In 2021, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was called in to conduct a thorough investigation surrounding the undelivered $72.2 million ‘motion scales’ that were purchased in 2016 by the then Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
In fact, former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, his Permanent Secretary (PS), Balraj Balram, and his Engineer/Manager Lawrence Mentis have all been sued by the State over the scales.
“Regulations might be necessary, and you should recall that we had the issue of the famous missing scales. These missing scales that should have been delivered to the Government of Guyana that Mr. Patterson and ethal would have to answer for are scales that would have solved that very same problem,” Minister Edghill said. The Minister explained that these missing scales would have been stationed at various points, which would have brought some control to the situation.
He stated, “At this stage, even if the Government puts in place regulations or legislations, we still have to expend tens of millions of dollars to acquire scales because you can’t enforce weight restrictions if you don’t have the scales to weigh.”
The Public Works Minister is now appealing to truck operators to voluntarily comply with the Road Users Agreement in order to save what is left of the interior roads.
“Please, I know we want to make a quick dollar, so we try whatever could fit is going, but weight is also an important factor to take into consideration, and we would like to see this matter being addressed. So we need voluntary compliance.”
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