The Transportation and Roads Department in the northern region has begun instituting controls for trucks transporting excess cargo with the aim to reduce the damage to roads due to the weight of the loads.

The department has moved to activate mobile scales on roads in main zones and on roads frequented by heavy trucks with no weight stations in order to monitor the truck loads and reduce road damage.

Last year, more than 1,280 trucks were slapped with fines amounting to SR900,000 for violation of the stipulated load. The director of Transport and Roads Department in the northern border region, Motaleq Al-Sharari said the department seeks to install fixed weight stations on all roads, indicating that two new sites have already been selected.

Currently, weight stations are located in Nessab and Hajrat Al-Deeb, while a number of mobile scales have been placed along other roads with no stations.

Al- Sharari said work is ongoing on the project awarded to a national company to repair the eastern entrance of the Rafha-Hafr Al-Batin road. He said the western entrance to the province only needs maintenance along a one-kilometer section, and a maintenance project is due to begin soon.