The Ministry of Roads has completed the installation of two new weigh bridges at Mariakani in the Coastal region, which are designed to weigh trucks while in motion in an effort to speed up weighing of trucks from the port of Mombasa at a cost of shs 30 million.

Roads minister Franklin Bett said the new state of the art "weighing in motion" machines which will take the weight of loaded trucks while still moving will enhance efficiency and eliminate corruption at the Mariakani facility besides supplementing the existing machines at the weighbridge which has already been privatized .

Mr Bett who was speaking while inspecting the new weighing machine which will take weight from trucks travelling at a speed of 5 km per hour said the new facility will also eliminate pleas for re-weighing trucks from transporters who refuse to accept the verdict of the machines currently in place.

The minister said once the installation of the new machine is completed at Mariakani, similar ones will also be put up at Mlolongo near Nairobi and Gilgil in an effort to curb overloading of trucks which destroy roads build with billions of tax payers money.

"We shall modernize and privatise all weighbridges throughout the country to ensure that transporters who have been destroying our roads with impunity are forced to abide to axle road rules", said the minister who was accompanied by the Chief Executive of the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) eng. Meshack Kidenda.

He hailed the privatization of weighbridges as a new concept which has greatly eliminated corruption and enabled the exchequer to save millions of shillings which used to be spend on repairing damaged roads .

However the minister appealed to the Kenya Transporters Association to impress upon its members on the need to abide to axle load rules since it costs over shs 100 million to repair a kilometer of a damaged tarmac road .

He said once transporters desist from destroying roads through overloading, the ministry will be able to spend billions of shillings spend on repairs to put up new tarmac roads especially in North Eastern Province which doesnt have even a single kilometer of tarmac road.

The minister also decried the destruction of " road furniture " like guardrails and reflectors by careless motorists and urged KeNHA to put modalities in place to surcharge motorists who cause damage to these important components of the country's highways