Construction industry groups last week warned that the road transport department’s (JPJ) nationwide crackdown on overloaded heavy vehicles could inflate costs and disrupt supply chains, calling on the transport ministry and JPJ to hold immediate discussions to devise a phased or flexible enforcement plan.
Transport minister Loke Siew Fook today said the ministry would not back down as stricter enforcement was necessary to ensure road users’ safety.
He told the Dewan Rakyat that he was not surprised by the complaints as he had anticipated that certain industry players would attempt to put pressure on the ministry to ease up on the enforcement.
“I’m quite disappointed with the actions of some industry players. They seem to expect us to negotiate with them. To me, that’s a challenge to the government’s authority.
“I want the public and road users to be safe. Profit is not everything — human lives matter more.
“For years, even decades, companies have taken advantage of weak enforcement to carry excessive loads.
“But we will continue enforcing the law. It’s better for them to comply and take all necessary steps to ensure they adhere to legal weight limits.”
He was responding to a supplementary question from Syahredzan Johan (PH–Bangi), who asked the ministry to address complaints from construction associations claiming that the heavy load limit rules had increased their material costs and what action would be taken if they violated regulations.
Loke urged all construction associations and companies to comply with the existing regulations instead of calling for negotiations.
On Oct 14, Loke said companies caught with overloaded vehicles three times would have their operating licences revoked as part of a nationwide crackdown on overloading, which will run until Dec 31.
He said the ministry wanted to end the long-standing practice of transport operators treating fines as a mere cost of doing business.
Last week, the Master Builders Association Malaysia, Persatuan Kontraktor Bumiputera Malaysia and Persatuan Kontraktor India Malaysia said they were “deeply alarmed” by the crackdown, which they said would drastically reduce load capacity, requiring twice as many trips, higher fuel consumption and inevitable delays.
The groups also said strict enforcement would likely double haulage costs, as transporters would need to upgrade fleets, implement stricter weighing procedures and retrain drivers.
They cautioned that project delays could derail infrastructure and housing developments under the 13th Malaysia Plan, with contractors forced to bear penalties for late delivery.
“While we fully support road safety and infrastructure preservation, the sudden enforcement of these measures, without adequate transitional support for compliance, risks paralysing the construction sector at a time when the economy is still recovering,” they said in a joint statement.