Transport CS demands answers from KeNHA over weighbridge delays

The ministry of transport has threatened to remove all weighbridges unless the system becomes efficient.

This comes as complaints of severe delays mount with transporters accusing the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) of inefficiency.

Speaking in Mombasa, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the delays have become a serious concern, given Kenya’s positioning as a transport corridor to the region.

“If the weighbridge is efficient you should not be having those long queues of trucks waiting. And so we want answers from KeNHA if not we shall ask them to remove those weighbridges,” Mr Macharia said.

There are six weighbridges along the northern corridor from Mombasa to the Ugandan borders, with most congested with long processing times.

Transporters have also decried the high number of roadblocks along the corridor which they argue impedes cargo movement.

Mr Macharia said the ministry is in talks with the national police service to work on easing flow of cargo.

“We would like the minister for interior to explain why we have all these roadblocks whereby our sister states are complaining about the many roadblocks between here and the border,” he said.

Kenya has slowly been losing out on business from landlocked countries in East Africa which have been opting to take their goods through Tanzania. The transport ministry says it’s working on a program to ease cargo movement from the port of Mombasa to the region.