KARACHI, April 15: The National Highway Police has imposed load restrictions on trucks plying on highways in the country.

According to business circles the highway police has fixed 25 tons as maximum load for all category of trucks moving on highways.

A circular issued by the highway police under ordinance 2002, says that any extra load over 25 tons will be removed after weighing and a fine of Rs200 to Rs500 will be imposed.

The decision has been taken in order to protect highways from the damage caused due to heavy loads normally carried by trucks wanting to save time and the haulage cost to the benefit of the trucking companies and the owners of goods.

No doubt, the decision is very good and it should be strictly followed by the highway police but, according to business circles, this has increased the cost for trade and industry.

Citing an example a business leader told Dawn that due to the weight restrictions he was now paying around Rs20 to Rs22 extra per maund of cotton coming from upcountry to Karachi. He further said that in the past a truck used to haul around 200 bales in a trip but after restrictions on weight only 140 bales could be carried.

Consequently, he said an extra haulage cost had to be incurred by him for 60 bales which resulted in enhancing total cost. The impact of Rs20 to Rs22 per maund of cotton turned out to be quite high to add to the already high cost of production which made the products uncompetitive in world market.

In his view the step has been taken to cover the inferior quality of highways and secondly, even if it was necessary to do so, it should have been done in phases as was done in India.

In the past, trucks used to carry loads up to 30 tons but after the restriction of 25 tons the highway police have started weighing loaded trucks on highways, remove extra load and impose fines. A number of weighing machines have been installed on highways for this purpose.

In India initially, the maximum load allowed on highways was 20 tons but after a gap of five years and on improving the quality of highways it was enhanced to 25 tons and after another five years and on further improvement it was finally extended to 30 tons, he added.