By: Roberta Gayode Modin
The President, John Dramani Mahama, has announced that his government will introduce strict weight restrictions on heavy-duty trucks to protect Ghana’s road infrastructure from premature deterioration.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for the dualisation of the Takoradi–Cape Coast section of the N1 Highway, President Mahama said the move is necessary to ensure that billions of cedis invested in the road sector yield long-term benefits.
He noted that many newly constructed roads in Ghana have been destroyed within three to five years due to overloading by transporters.
“We cannot invest so much money in improving our road network only for transporters to overload their trucks and destroy the roads in three to five years,” the President said.
President Mahama cited examples of trucks carrying as much as 120 tons, despite the legal limit being 50 tons per truck. He stressed that no road can withstand such excessive weight, regardless of its quality.
“There are trucks in this country that load 120 tons when the maximum load is supposed to be 50 tons. There is no road you can construct that will stand 120 tons per truck,” he emphasized.
The President referenced Burkina Faso’s new weight regulations as an example Ghana can learn from. Under the new Burkinabe rules, trucks are restricted by both length and width. As a result, some overloaded trucks from Ghana are unable to enter Burkina Faso until their cargo is redistributed across multiple vehicles.
“Recently, Burkina Faso implemented a new weight regulation, and now, overloaded trucks from Ghana are stopped at the border. They have to offload one truck into three before they can enter,” he explained.
President Mahama revealed that the Roads Minister will soon consult with transport unions and other stakeholders to finalize and enforce the new policy, which will be formally announced in the upcoming national budget.
“We must implement weight restrictions so that the roads we build can last. Next year, we’re going to introduce strict weight limitations so that these investments in our road sector last for a lifetime,” he said.
He reiterated his government’s commitment to protecting public investment and ensuring accountability in the transport sector.
“We are not going to waste taxpayers’ money repairing roads only for people to overload and destroy them within a short time. We will enforce the weight limits so our roads can serve Ghanaians for generations,” the President concluded.
The dualisation of the Takoradi–Cape Coast highway forms part of the Big Push infrastructure agenda, aimed at modernizing Ghana’s road network and improving transportation efficiency along key economic corridors.
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