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140 weighbridges prone to illegal levies: Ministry
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All set – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto (third from left), together with (from right to left) National Police chief Gen.Tito Karnavian, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Attorney General Prasetyo, and the police’s general supervision inspectorate (Irwasum) chief Comr. Gen. Dwi Priyatno, explain about the establishment of an illegal levy taskforce, called Saber Pungli, in Jakarta on Oct.21. (Antara/Yudhi Mahatma)
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ransportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said on Tuesday that the government was intensifying efforts to combat illegal levies, especially at 140 weighbridges across the country because they were not managed properly.
Weighbridges are prone to illegal fees because government officials handling them reportedly often abuse their authority and permit overloaded trucks to skip inspections, he argued.
“Many negative effects can result from the poor management of weighbridges, including road damage because of overloaded heavy vehicles and traffic accidents, which eventually could lead to increases in logistics costs,” Budi said.
The minister said one possible option to combat illegal levies was to hand over the operation of weighbridges to competent institutions.
“We will find qualified parties to manage weighbridges. They could be the central government, local administrations or other parties,” Budi said.
As reporter earlier, the government is taking serious measures to eradicate the charging of illegal levies in various sectors, including in the Transportation Ministry.
On Thursday, South Sulawesi Police arrested 10 people for allegedly charging illegal levies at the Maccopa weighbridge in Maros. They comprised a civil servant from the South Sulawesi Transportation Agency, five non-permanent employees of the agency, four truck drivers and a driver’s assistant. (win/ebf)
