The Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) has impounded six trucks belonging to the West Africa Cement Company (WACO), producers of Diamond Cement, for overloading.
The trucks comprising of five six-axle trucks, and one axle truck, were impounded on Thursday.
Five of the trucks which loaded from WACO�s factory at Aflao were heading towards Savana cement at Buipe, a subsidiary of the company, while the remaining one was to offload at Pokuase.
Mr Norbert Quarmor, GHA�s Director of Public Affairs, told the press that instead of an average load of 60 tonnes, and 53.5 tonnes stipulated weight for the six-axle and five-axle respectively, the trucks weighed between 74 and 60 tonnes, an excess of 14 and 10 tonnes.
He indicated that the drivers were being processed by the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), to appear before the Motor Court in Accra on Monday.
The Director of Public Affairs added that in addition to being prosecuted, the drivers would also shed off the excess load at the point of arrest.
He also sounded a word of caution to producers of heavy items to desist from overloading their trucks noting that �it has come to our notice that some of the overloading is done at the point of loading at the companies�.
Mr Quarmor said the GHA would henceforth not only deal with the drivers, but would also go after the producers who refused to abide by the regulations of the Authority.
He urged them to adhere to the stipulated weight limit to help enhance the lifespan of the country�s trunk roads, pointing out that overloading put a lot of stress on the roads.
Richard Edusei, and Oteng Owusu, drivers of two of the impounded trucks, confirmed to the Press that they carried 1,300 and 850 bags of cement instead of the 750 and 700 bags respectively.
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