The new minister of public works and transportation yesterday threatened to introduce tough new measures, including fines, for officials who turn a blind eye to overloaded vehicles, which he claimed caused $100 million in road damage every year.

Minister Sun Chanthol yesterday said in a meeting that fines would be introduced for scale station officials who conspired with transport companies to allow overloaded trucks to travel, but he did not stipulate the cost of the fines or elaborate on potential “administrative discipline”.

“We have to have our measures, and we cannot let them collude with one another and allow the [overloaded] vehicles to run on the road and damage 100 kilometres of road; we have to fine our officials. We will prevent this at the root,” he said.

Also in the minister’s sights were almost 2,000 repair garages that had not yet registered with the government to ensure vehicles were kept at regulation standards.

San Chey, network fellow for Cambodia Affiliated Network for Social Accountability–EastAsia Pacific, said he welcomed the reinforcement but said the issue was “nothing new”.