The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) on Wednesday passed the EAC Vehicle Load Control Bill 2012, a move expected to take trade facilitation a step higher in the region.The Bill, moved by Shem Bageine, Uganda’s State minister for EAC Affairs and Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, envisages control of vehicle loads, harmonised enforcement and to make institutional arrangements for the Regional Trunk Road Network for the region. The Regional Trunk Road Network includes routes like the Central and Northern corridors that connect EAC partner states.The Bill sets the permissible maximum gross vehicle weight at a metric tonnage of 56 and at the same time, the vehicles shall have a maximum of seven axles.“Our roads are very expensive, yet they take a very short time to be destroyed and that is why we need to regulate their usage,” said EALA member Abdul Karim Harelimana during the session.‘No regional roads’Dr James Ndahiro, another EALA member, descried the current state of the road network that connects the EAC partner states, saying they are too small and do not deserve to be called regional roads.Bageine said the main objective of the Bill is to achieve efficient and effective control of vehicle overloading in the region as a basis for reducing accelerated deterioration of road networks and as a consequence, reducing total transport costs.“Inefficient transport is a major challenge frustrating the objective of widening and deepening co-operation among Partner States,” Bageine said.In particular, overloading of vehicles along the regional trunk road network is a major hindrance of regional road infrastructure leading to high costs of road maintenance.”EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera said the Bill was informed by thorough research and scientific studies and noted that another eleven bills would be tabled before the house.
