A new weighbridge for cargo trucks has been inaugurated at Tema Community One in the Greater Accra Region.

The weighbridge will check and ensure that cargo trucks do not exceed their load limits.

The facility cost GH¢10-million and comes with offices and truck parking spaces and was constructed by Quality and Quantity (Q and Q) Services, a subsidiary of Kingdom Exim Ghana Limited (KEGL), in collaboration with the Tema Metropolitan Assembly.

The weighbridge uses an electronic or digital monitor to determine the weight of goods being conveyed by a vehicle.

Roads

Speaking at the ceremony to inaugurate the facility last Saturday, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, said the facility would checkmate excessive overloading of vehicles plying the roads from the port of Tema to the hinterlands and the Sahelian countries in West Africa whose goods transit at the Tema Port.

Mr Atta Akyea, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akim Abuakwa South, explained that weighbridges were necessary in order to maintain the lifespan of roads which were often damaged by articulated vehicles that carried overload of goods.

He commended the investors for their expenditure and expressed the hope that the facility would ensure that the measure of weights was reliable and accurate and would provide the exact figures to transporters to enhance their operations.

He again lauded the investors for contributing to job creation and also supporting the community with humanitarian and social interventions by way of donations of personal protective equipment and food items during the COVID-19 lockdown.

A Deputy Minister of Transport and MP for Tema East, Mr Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, said the project had come at the right time as the ministry was putting in efforts to make the country’s roads safer as well as make sure that drivers operated in a conducive environment where lives and properties were protected.

Support

The Director of Tema Port, Ms Sandra Opoku, commended the investors for establishing the facility and supporting the port community.

She said the weighbridge had come to support the logistics base of the Tema Port which handled over 17 million tonnes of cargo last year and to aid trade facilitation into the hinterland.

“This weighbridge will complement what we already have in the port, in addition to that of the Ghana Highway Authority,” she said.

Safety

The Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Port Services (MPS), Mr Mohamed Samara, welcomed the move and stressed that cargo heading to and out of the port ought to carry the requisite weight to ensure that the various roads that carried cargo trucks were in good condition.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive for Tema, Mr Felix Mensah Nii Annang-La, said the project was a demonstration of the assembly’s commitment to work with the private sector and creating an enabling environment for global businesses to thrive in the metropolis.

Rev. Edwin Langmer, who spoke on behalf of the CEO OF KEGL, Mr James Rajamani, said the company undertook the investment because it was committed to bringing roads in the country to life.

He added that since outbound cargo to the sahel region of West Africa were transported via trucks, it was necessary to ensure that the weights they carried were the right weights in order to protect the roads.