SSATP Discussion Paper No. 12 Regional Integration and Transport – RIT 66940 Emerging Good Practice in Overload Control in Eastern and Southern Africa Selected Case Studies Michael Ian Pinard The SSATP is an international partnership to facilitate policy development and related capacity building in the transport sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sound policies lead to safe, reliable, and cost-effective transport, freeing people to lift themselves out of poverty and helping countries to compete internationally. ******* The SSATP is a partnership of  36 SSA countries  8 Regional Economic Communities  2 African institutions: UNECA, AU/NEPAD  10 active donors: European Commission (main donor), Denmark, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Islamic Development Bank, Afri- can Development Bank, and World Bank (host)  Numerous public and private state and regional organizations ******* The SSATP gratefully acknowledges the financial contributions and support of the European Commission; the governments of Denmark, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and United Kingdom; and the Islamic Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the World Bank. ******* More publications on the SSATP Website: www.worldbank.org/afr/ssatp The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SSATP or its partners. © 2011 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank All rights reserved. Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgements xi Acronyms and abbreviations xiii Map of main transport corridors in ESA xv Introduction 1 NAMIBIA: Progressive strategy on overload control 7 Background 7 The Road network 7 Previous status of overloading (1998) 8 Overload control strategy 9 Weighbridge network 9 Overload control legislation and regulations 12 Weighing procedures 12 Weighbridge calibration, certification and maintenance 13 Weigh-in-motion and vehicle load monitors 14 Weighbridge management and dedicated personnel 14 Training of dedicated personnel 14 Overload control financing 15 Overload control information monitoring system 15 Private partnership in management of weighbridges 15 Stakeholders’ participation and cooperation 16 Decriminalization of overloading offences 16 Current status of overloading (2005) 17 Conclusions 18 Summary 18 ZAMBIA: Process-related load control program 21 Introduction 21 Problem analysis 21 Approach to overload control 26 Implementation of the program 28 Program assessment 34 Conclusions 36 ZIMBABWE: Decriminalization of overload control 39 Introduction 39 Overloading offences 41 Impact of decriminalization 41 Summary 42 SOUTH AFRICA: Privatization of weighbridge operations 45 Introduction 45 Problem statement 45 Model development 46 Contractual arrangements 49 Operational costs 52 Capital expenditure 55 Results of overload control operations 55 Conclusions 58 SOUTH AFRICA: Self regulation of overload control 61 Introduction 61 The Road Transport Management System (RTMS) 62 Implementation results 68 Further developments 68 Conclusions 70 References 71 BOTSWANA/SOUTH AFRICA: Cross-border overload controls 73 Introduction 73 CBOCS system design and review of operations 77 Review of operations 80 General observations 81 Impact of CBOCS pilot project 83 Conclusions 84 Recommendations and way forward 86 Foreword This is the third in a series of three publications that the SSATP is re- leasing on vehicle overload control in Eastern and Southern Africa. The first two volumes presented a concise synthesis of the vehicle overload problem in the region and guidelines on developing sound and sustain- able control regimes. Those volumes were based on lessons learnt from experiences with overload controls in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe where good practices are emerging. Given the importance of learning from the successful practices, this volume presents more detail on each of the case studies. The case studies offer different but complementary lessons, namely, cooperation between neighboring countries in designing overload con- trol systems for cross-border traffic (Botswana/South Africa case study), developing and implementing a progressive strategy for overload con- trol (Namibia), introducing private operation of weighbridges and self- regulation of vehicle loading (South Africa), designing a process-related vehicle axle load control program (Zambia) and decriminalizing over- load control (Zimbabwe). Between them, the case studies cover some of the most critical elements of progressive approaches to vehicle axle load control regimes. This ground breaking compendium by the SSATP derives from a reali- zation of the scale of the vehicle overloading problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. Unless the problem is tackled properly, it will negate the benefits from the significant improvements in core road infrastructure networks across much of the continent. The case studies show that it is possible to have effective control regimes in place, which are supported by and benefit both the public and private sector operators. This document, like the other two, is a product of the SSATP partner- ship between Regional Economic Communities (COMESA, EAC, SADC), international bodies (UNECA, USAID, World Bank), private sector associations (FESARTA), and country experts. These parties pro- vided critical inputs to a team of experts which compiled the case stu- dies. The case studies were then used as an input into the drawing of regional guidelines on vehicle overload control. As is usual with such seemingly difficult subjects, learning from the lessons offered here will require serious commitment, support and follow-up from these various parties. The case studies clearly show that the problem of vehicle over- loading is not insurmountable; it can be tackled successfully with the right mix of approaches, players, deterrents and incentives. Acknowledgements These case studies were compiled for the Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) by the following team of consultants: Michael I. Pinard, InfraAfrica (Pty) Ltd, Gaborone, Botswana (Team Leader) Paul Nordengen, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (SCIR), Pretoria, South Africa Loest van Eden, Africon Limited, Pretoria, South Africa Ray Sowman, TMT Projects (Pty) Ltd, Durban, South Africa The consultants gratefully acknowledge the support and guidance for the project provided by the following persons: Dr. Charles Kunaka, who was SSATP Regional Coordinator for East and Southern Africa and primary coordinator of the project Mr. Amos Marawa of the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka Dr. Ernest Dhliwayo of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Southern Africa Office in Lusaka Ms. Mapolao Mokoena of the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana Mr. Gratian Rutaserwa of the East African Community (EAC) in Aru- sha, Tanzania Mr. Barney Curtis of the Federation of Eastern and Southern Africa Road Freight Associations (FESERTA), South Africa Ms. Monique S. Desthuis-Francis, in charge of SSATP publications Many stakeholders, from both the public and private sectors, too nu- merous to mention by name, provided valuable inputs to the project and their contributions are also gratefully acknowledged. Without the generous support of the road authorities and other agencies in the vari- ous countries it would not have been possible to compile these case studies. Acronyms and abbreviations AASHO American Association of State Highway Officials ACC Anti Corruption Commission ASANRA Association of Southern Africa National Roads Au- thorities AU African Union BOT Built Operate and Transfer CBOCS Cross Border Overload Control System CBRTA Cross-Border Road Transport Agency COMESA Common Market for East and Southern Africa CPC Corridor Planning Committee CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ESA Equivalent Standard Axle DoCS Department of Community Safety DoT Department of Transport EAC East African Community ECA Economic Commission for Africa ECOWAS Economic Community for Central African States ESA Eastern and Southern Africa FCWG Five Country Working Group FESARTA Federation of East and Southern African Road Trans- port Associations GCM Gross Combination Mass GVM Gross vehicle mass HGV Heavy Goods Vehicle HSWIM High Speed Weigh-in-Motion LAP Load Accreditation Program LSWIM Low Speed Weigh-in-Motion MLP Model Legislative Provisions MoU Memorandum of Understanding MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework NAD Namibian dollar NDoT National Department of Transport NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development NHVAS National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme NPRA Norwegian Public Road Administration NQF National Qualification Framework OCMI Overload Control Management Initiative PBS Performance Based System PGWC Provincial Government -, Western Cape PPP Public Private Partnership PTA Preferential Trade Area R Rand RA Road Authority RDA Road Development Agency REC Regional Economic Community RESOC Regional System of Overload Control REVOCA Regional Vehicle Overloading Control Association RTMS Road Transport Management System RTMS Road Transport Management System SADC Southern African Development Community SANRAL South African National Roads Agency Limited SATCC Southern Africa Transport and Communications Commission SCOM Standing Committee SSA Sub-Saharan Africa SSATP Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program TTC Traffic control centre VELAC Vehicle Loading Advisory Committee VLM Vehicle load monitor VOCWG Vehicle Overloading Control Working Group VOMS Vehicle Overloading Management System vpd Vehicles per day WCC Weighbridge Clearance Certificate VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal WIM Weigh-in-Motion Map of main transport corridors in ESA Ethiopia - Djibouti Northern Central Dar es Salaam Malanje Lobito-Benguela Namibe Nacala Trans-Caprivi Trans-Cunene Beira North-South Trans-Kalahari Maputo Introduction Background The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), South- ern African Development Community (SADC) and the Southern Africa Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) working under the Regional Economic Communities Transport Coordinat- ing Committee (REC-TCC) established under the leadership of the Sub- Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) have identified vehicle overload control as one of the priority areas. This paper is the third in a series of three publications dedicated to the overwhelming problem of overloaded vehicles damaging roads throughout Africa. The first paper presented the overall problem and related guidelines on developing sound and sustainable control measures based on lessons learned. These lessons learned captured in the second volume are from experiences collected in Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana, four countries where some good practices are emerging that could serve as a platform for wider replication in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region. The selection of these countries to be used as case stu- dies was based on a previous survey carried out in some 18 countries representing four Regional Economic Communities (SADC, COMESA, ECOWAS and CEMAC). Emerging good practices A number of countries in the ESA region have embarked on aspects of good practice in overload control that are worthy of documentation for possible emulation by all countries. These examples include:  Progressive strategy for overload control (as in Namibia)  Process-related axle load control program (as in Zambia)  Decriminalization of overload control (as in Zimbabwe)  Privatization of weighbridge operations (as in the Western Cape, South Africa)  Self-regulation of overload control (as with the timber industry in South Africa)  Cross-border overload control system (as at the Botswana/South Afri- ca border at Martin’s Drift/Groblersbrug) Key Messages from case Studies Progressive strategy for overload control The Namibia case study demonstrates a comprehensive strategy for over- load control based on the trend-setting guidance provided in the SADC Memorandum of Understanding on Vehicle Loading 1. The only key element of the strategy not yet in place is the decriminalization of overloading of- fences. However, this issue is the subject of an on-going study recommend- ing an infringement system in place of the more traditional prosecution system with has limited effectiveness. The implementation of the overload control strategy has facilitated the control of the pavement consumption and resulted in improved road safe- ty. There has been a significant reduction in the percentage of overloaded heavy vehicles from 369 percent in 1998 for overloads within and above the 5 percent tolerance to 10 percent in 2005. The positive impact of developing and introducing a sound strategy on overload control has demonstrated in a quantitative manner the obvious benefits of adopting a structured approach to overload control in line with the SADC Memorandum of Understanding on Vehicle Loading. Process-related axle load control program The process-related axle load control program followed by Zambia is a ho- listic and integrated one, which has been implemented substantially over a four-year period. The new approach to overload control is based on a radi- cal overhaul of the old approach and is largely in accordance with the 1 This document, still in a draft format, is accessible from the SSATP website. SADC MoU and the model legislative provisions on management of vehicle loading. The important lessons learned by Zambia are that:  The process of amending Part V of the Public Roads Act has been slow. This has affected progress on some other vital program components;  The wide-ranging scope of the project requires more than the four- year period assumed for its implementation;  Before starting the project, it is important to have ample time to devel- op the implementation plan and detailed yearly budgets;  It is also important to have a fully operational accounting and financial management system in place before commencing implementation; and  It would be advantageous to divide the project in to separate sub- projects, one for operation and one for investment, and run them sep- arately with different time schedules. Zambia is expected to start reaping the benefits of its process-related axle load control program in terms of a significant reduction in overloading in future. Decriminalization of overload control Zimbabwe has been able to greatly improve the effectiveness of its efforts to curb the practice of overloading by decriminalizing overloaded vehicle and introducing administrative adjudication procedures to deal with infringe- ments of the legal weight limits. The country imposed stiff fees for move- ments of apprehended overloaded vehicles, and generally required on-the- spot off-loading of excess weight. This resulted in a significant reduction in the incidence of overloading which is now below 3 percent at border posts compared with more than 40 percent before decriminalization of offences. In contrast to Zimbabwe, countries that have not decriminalized the prac- tice have had a very low rate of successful prosecutions via the criminal justice system. For example, on the N4 (Pretoria-Maputo) Toll Road, the number of overloading offenders successfully prosecuted during the period 2002-2007 was only 29 percent. Privatization of weighbridge operations Very encouraging results have been achieved in the curbing of overload control in the Western Cape where the private sector has been involved in carrying out various aspects of the control process. It is a fact that more work is now being done with less traffic personnel, due in large part to the availability of private operators at the site to assist the traffic officers which are in very short supply. Figure 1 shows the significant improvements in various aspects of overload control since the involvement of the private sector. Figure 1. Vehicle weighing statistics The cost for providing private sector support for the traffic officers amounted to R316,605 per site per annum which is approximately 28 per- cent of the total cost incurred. The remaining 72 percent is utilized for the maintenance and upkeep of the facilities and equipment as well as running costs for services such as water, electricity and telephone. These are costs that would be required even if only traffic officers performed to the same extent as the partnership performs currently. Self regulation of overload control The promotion of self-regulation in the heavy vehicle industry is an initia- tive that is intended to foster a partnership with the industry to ensure proper load management, vehicle road worthiness and driver well-being. From the outcome of the pilot project with the timber industry in South Africa, it has been concluded that the Road Transport Management System (RTMS): • Provides an opportunity for consignors, consignees and transport op- erators to lead the way in a new generation of alternative compliance; • Provides an opportunity to promote professionalism in heavy goods vehicle transport; • The likelihood of success is enhanced because of the strong support from the government (Department of Transport, SANRAL and the provinces) for private sector initiatives; • There is a potential for major economic benefits to the road transport industry in South Africa as a whole as a result of a reduction of accele- rated road infrastructure deterioration due to overloading, an im- provement in road safety and an increase in vehicle payload efficiency. Since vehicle monitoring commenced in November 2002, the incidence of prosecutable vehicle overloading (greater than 5 percent) in the timber industry has reduced by between 40 percent and 45 percent. Furthermore, the average overload per vehicle has reduced by 14 percent during the same period. These figures are impressive, particularly as only four transport operators have been accredited to date. Others are in the application phase, preparing for an external audit. The success of the project is to a great extent due to the active involvement of the consignees and consignors. At certain mills a four-hour delay penalty has been introduced which is applied to any vehicle that arrives at a mill and is found to be more than 5 percent overloaded on total vehicle mass. At these mills, improvements of more than 80 percent in terms of incidence of overloading have been observed. One of the aims of the Department of Transport is to roll out this initiative to other industries, and eventually to establish a national accreditation sys- tem for the whole of the road transport industry. The RTMS initiative is worthy of serious consideration in Eastern and Southern Africa. Cross-Border Overload Control System The principle of the Cross-Border Overload Control System (CBOCS) is that Customs requires the driver of any commercial vehicle to produce documentary evidence that it is not overloaded, in the form of a Weighbridge Clearance Certificate, before attending to the clearance of the vehicle for crossing the border. Since the introduction of the pilot project at the Botswana/South Africa (Martin’s Drift/Groblersbrug) border, the incidence of overloaded vehicles in excess of the 5 percent tolerance has reduced dramatically from a mean monthly value of 8.2 percent to 2.9 percent. There has also been a four-fold increase in the number of vehicles weighed. The audit of the CBOCS shows that the pilot project has been a success in that it has achieved the main objective set initially by stakeholders—the reduction of overloading at the Groblers Bridge/Martins Drift border post. The success of the CBOCS has been achieved with benefits to Customs in terms of minimizing the scope for under-declaration of goods on a mass basis and without additional delays to vehicles, and without significant ad- ditional delays to commercial vehicles. Based on the outcome of the pilot CBOCS, similar projects should be con- sidered at other border posts in the region. Summary The examples of emerging good practice included in this publication all exemplify aspect of the trend-setting reforms contained in the SADC doc- 2 ument Enabling Legal Reform: Control of Vehicle Loading . Moreover, they have all demonstrated positive improvements in overload control which should be considered seriously by all countries in the region for adoption and, where necessary, modification to suit their specific situations. 2 This document, still in a draft format, is published on the SSATP website. NAMIBIA: Progressive strategy on overload control Background The overload control strategy developed in Namibia is based on the rec- ommendations of the SATCC 5 Country Special Working Group on Overload Control3. At the time, only three single axle weighbridge scales were available for overload control and operated by the Traffic Depart- ment of the Police. These weighbridges were outdated and lacked spares for their repair and therefore were not in operation for most of the time. The scheduling of operations depended on the priority of the police and therefore overload control was accorded low priority in relation to other traffic control operations. Against the above background, this case study reviews the strategy taken by Namibia to minimize the negative impact of heavy vehicle overload- ing and presents the results derived from overload control operations carried out on the network. The study also discusses the future plans of the Roads Authority with regard to private sector participation in the management of weighbridges and overload control operations with a view to improving on efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The Road network The national road network length of Namibia is 46,000 kilometers com- prising trunk, main and district roads of which 5,500 kilometers are of bitumen surfaced standards, 40,500 kilometers are unsealed comprising 3 The final report was released in February 1994. roads of gravel standards and tracks, along with 600 bridges and 2,000 culverts with spans greater than 1.5 meter. The trunk road network consists of a north-south link from the border with South Africa to the border with Angola, the Trans-Kalahari High- way, a west-east link running from Walvis Bay at the west coast to the border with Botswana, and a link through the Caprivi Region known as the Trans-Caprivi Highway. The three links are part of the regional development corridors originat- ing from the coast, all identified as potential drivers of economic growth, enhancement of regional cooperation and promotion of tour- ism. The two corridors, the Walvis Bay-Oshikango-Namibe Develop- ment Corridor and the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor are all services by the Namibian trunk road network. The average age of the bitumen road network based on the date of the first upgrade is 25.8 years, but improves to 23.1 years when the major rehabilitation interventions done over the period are taken into account. On average, the bitumen road network is therefore serving beyond its design life and major rehabilitation will be required in the short to me- dium term. >30 30