VietNamNet Bridge – Overloaded trucks are continuing to damage roads in the south, despite the construction of the Dau Giay weigh station in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Nguyen Van Diep, director of the provincial Transport Department, said weigh stations were vital to protecting the country's roads.

However, Diep said more research needed to be conducted on the placement and construction of weigh stations.

He said several hundred trucks were using 18 routes connecting the districts of Trang Bom, Thong Nhat, Long Thanh, Vinh Cuu and Cam My to bypass the Dau Giay weigh station.

As a result, he said overload trucks were seriously damaging local roads.

The department said that since the weigh station had become operational, damage to roads was estimated at VND95 billion (US$4.75 million). Meanwhile, the weigh station collected VND13 billion ($650,000) in fines.

In addition, the province has to meet the cost of 105 traffic police deployed daily to monitor freight transport.

Phan Hien, deputy director of Road Management Zone 7, which manages the Dau Giay weigh station, said the facility had been placed in the wrong location making it too easy to avoid.

He also said the weigh station's cameras could only identify the number plates of 81 per cent of vehicles passing through it, instead of 90 per cent as intended.

Dang Cong Chien, deputy head of the directorate for Roads of Viet Nam, said a 20 per cent margin of error created tailbacks during rush hour.

The Government in 2009 approved the construction of weigh bridges in Dau Giay and on National Highway 18 in north-eastern Quang Ninh Province.

Vehicles passing through the Quang Ninh station weighing more than 45 tonnes are subject to fines.

Ngoc Dong, the head of the Directorate for Roads and deputy transport minister, said the ministry planned to look into building more weigh stations.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News