TRUCK operators could face heavy fines if their vehicles are found to be overloaded on public roads, Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry has disclosed.

HENRY... we need to stamp out this practice of loading trucks with far more weight than the units are designed to carry

Henry, who Wednesday signed a US$506,690 contract for the installation of four scales across the island, said that the nation's road network has over the years been badly damaged by overloaded trucks, and that the practice must be stopped. The scales will be installed within 90 days of signing of the contract.

"It really makes no sense pumping large amounts of scarce funding into road rehabilitation and expansion, only to have the network wantonly damaged by the actions of selfish truck operators who are focused only on their personal gain, and not on the national interest," said Henry.

"Hence we need to stamp out this practice of loading trucks with far more weight than the units were designed to carry. Those who chose to continue with their old habits must be made to understand the folly and insensitivity of their actions, and this is what the weight scale programme is all about," he added.

The contract, he said, was financed through a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank.

Henry said violators will be fined according to the excess weight and road on which they commit the breach.

"The user pay, so the fines that are going to flow now from you breaking the law may build back the road. I think the fine is about £15,000 in the United Kingdom if you are caught with an overloaded vehicle; so multiply that by 120 and you will understand that if we follow the pattern of other international countries, the fine might be few hundred thousand well... and for my part I am going to equate it to the cost of the road you are on," noted Henry.

The scales will be placed at four key locations - in the vicinity of the Ferry Police Station in St Catherine, At Harbour View in St Andrew, at Coral Springs in Trelawny and at Agualta Vale in St Mary.

When the system is implemented, truck operators will be required to unload and secure the excess weight until it can be removed within 24 hours.

The maximum weight allowed on the nation's roads is 10 tonnes.