KUCHING: Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) Chairman Cr. Tan Kai hut back to recent remarks by Michael Kong, Chairman of Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (LPKP) Sarawak who denied the board’s responsibility over road damage caused by heavy lorries at Jalan Kwong Thiong.
Tan Kai claimed they based on ground inspections and repeated cases in various residential areas, the deterioration of these roads is almost always caused by heavy and overloaded lorries, especially those involved in earthworks.
He said these roads were never designed for such weight or frequency of use. So, to suggest that road damage is unrelated to overloading is misleading.
Still stating that root cause of it was tied to licensing and regulatory oversight under LPKP to check overloading lorries, Tan Kai stated that the issue goes beyond local enforcement measures such as issuing compounds or stop work orders.
“Dismissing this problem as unrelated to overloading is both inaccurate and irresponsible,” he added.
He stressed that while MPP has already taken enforcement action including issuing compounds to the parties involved, this alone does not resolve the problem. Overloaded lorries continue to damage the roads despite these measures.
Calling it a chicken-and-egg situation, Tan Kai urged LPKP to address the movement of over-capacity vehicles at the licensing level or else road damage will continue not just in Padawan, but throughout Sarawak.
He pointed out that the licensing of heavy commercial vehicles is the responsibility of LPKP Sarawak and called on the agency to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance with weight limits and designated routes.
“The current system, which relies on complaints or notifications from local councils, reflects a lack of proactive enforcement on the part of the licensing body,” he said.
He urged LPKP to work closely with local councils rather than placing the burden of enforcement solely on MPP.
Among the measures he proposed were a review of standard operating procedures for issuing licenses, stricter control over permissible weight limits, effective monitoring mechanisms to detect overloading, and firmer action against violators.
On his part he states that, MPP has already denied road access to a developer found carrying out earthworks without a valid road permit and instructed the party to repair the damaged road at their own expense.
He reckoned that meaningful progress can only be achieved with active cooperation and accountability from the relevant licensing authorities.
By Connie Chieng