EAC moves closer to harmonisation of overload control

Progress has been made towards harmonisation of overload control in the East African region with a draft final report due to be handed to the EAC secretariat in the second week of July. But following the second stakeholder meeting held in Nairobi in May – called for by EAC and funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency – there are several issues that remain unresolved. “These outstanding items will be discussed at an extraordinary taskforce meeting this month before the draft final report is handed to the EAC secretariat,” Federation of Southern Africa Road Transport Associations executive director Barney Curtis told FTW last week. In terms of existing laws and regulations, Burundi is in the early stages of overloading control, with little enforcement, while Kenya has had many legislative changes over the years, including the reduction of axles to 6, so reducing the gcm (gross combination mass) to 48 tons. Rwanda, like Burundi is in the early stages of overloading control and does not effectively enforce while Tanzania has decriminalised overloading and fees are paid to the road fund. Uganda is moving to modernise its legislation and decriminalise overloading. The issue of axle mass and gross vehicle limits continues to dominate the agenda. The recommended limits are 10 tons (single axle, dual tyres), 18 tons (tandem axle unit, dual tyres), 24 tons (tridem axle unit, dual tyres) and 56 tons (gross combination mass). While Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania agreed on the 10, 18, 24 and 56 tons, Kenya acceded to the 18-ton tandem, but had concerns with maintenance requirements to achieve this. “It wanted to keep the limit of 6 axles for a vehicle combination,” said Curtis. “This had previously limited the gcm to 48 tons, and the Kenya representatives agreed to lift the gcm limit to 52 tons. This was almost the sum of the axles/axle units in a truck and trailer configuration (8, 18, 10, 18). The study team was however to provide further motivation for Kenya to move to 56 tons.” Weighbridge tolerances were another area on which it was difficult to reach consensus. The study team stated that weighbridges were not 100% accurate and recommended a 5% tolerance/allowance on axles and gvm/gcm. While Kenya and Tanzania agreed on 5% on axles and zero on gvm/gcm, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi agreed to 5% on axles and 2% on gvm/gcm. “The countries were to reconsider their positions so that a harmonisation could be achieved in the final workshop,” said Curtis. Acceptance of interlinks also drew deep-seated resistance and the study team has agreed to provide more motivation on their stability. Achieving resolution among so many players is clearly not a walk in the park, but progress has been made. A third taskforce meeting is scheduled for the third week of July and a stakeholder workshop will be held in August.