President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to strictly enforce axle and weight restrictions on heavy-duty trucks, cautioning transport operators against practices that could damage newly constructed roads.

Speaking during the Wa Big Push Project sod-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, November 11, the President cited Burkina Faso’s recent implementation of weight restrictions as an example of how neighbouring countries are safeguarding their road networks from premature deterioration.

He reiterated that while the government is investing heavily in new road infrastructure, maintenance will be a key priority.

“Burkina Faso has instituted a new weight restriction, and so what our people do is they load one truck here, overload it to 120 tons, and then redistribute it into three different trucks when they get to the border before entering Burkina Faso.

“Burkina Faso wants good roads; we also want good roads, so we are not going to allow you to load one truck and overload it into three trucks.

“I am serving notice, we will have stakeholder engagement with all the people in the transport sector, and when we start implementing our weight restrictions, we hope that everybody will comply so that these roads under construction will not fail within two to three years,” President Mahama warned